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Shaq Explains Why He Cancelled His $40M Reebok Deal: He Couldn’t Sell Kids Overpriced Shoes

Shaq Explains Why He Cancelled His $40M Reebok Deal: He Couldn’t Sell Kids Overpriced Shoes

Shaq

Shaq Explains Why He Cancelled His $40M Reebok Deal: He Couldn't Sell Kids Overpriced Shoes. In the original photo, then Miami Heat's injured center Shaquille O'Neal salutes a fan during a game against the Los Angeles Clippers in Los Angeles, in this Dec. 5, 2005 file photo. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian). Shoe photo courtesy of Twitter.

NBA legend Shaquille “Shaq” O’Neal is not only one of the best to ever play the game, he’s also an astute businessman. So when he walked away from a $40 million dollar deal with Reebok in 1998 and poured capital into launching his own shoe brand, it left some people wondering why he didn’t just take the massive check.

Now, years later, Shaq has revealed why he made that decision. In short, the ESPN analyst said he couldn’t keep overcharging kids for sneakers. He said he had the epiphany after an elder called him a “mother***er” one day when he was leaving the arena.

“I’m leaving the arena one day and this lady, she’s ripping me a new a**hole. ‘You motherf***ers, charging these babies all this money for the shoes.’ So I had like $2,000 in my pocket. I was like, ‘Ma’am, I don’t make the prices. Here you go;’ and she smacked the money in my hand,” Shaq shared on the “Full Send” podcast, Thursday, Aug. 26. He added the woman asked him, “Why don’t you mother***ers make a shoe that’s affordable?”

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Shaq said he realized the woman was right and cut ties with Reebok the same day.

“I was like, ‘You know what, she’s right.’ So that day, I cut ties with Reebok and started my own brand,” Shaq said. “I said, ‘Keep the money, this ain’t right. I don’t want to make it no fight. I’ll still wear the shoes that I wear during the season, but I’m gon’ be looking to do my own thing.’ … So, I started the Shaq brand.”

Shaq said he went to his “favorite store, Walmart” and they made a deal. His price points for the shoes are $19 and $29. To date, Shaq said they have sold more than 400 million pairs.

Despite ending their business dealings then, there was no bad blood between Shaq and the shoe giant. According to him, they didn’t give him a hard time. For Shaq, some things are bigger than money.

“I realized with kids right, it’s not kids that don’t want to wear $20 shoes, they don’t want to wear shoes that look like they cost $20,” Shaq said. “So the designers that they had at Reebok, I said ‘Y’all coming with me now and we go design some shoes. I don‘t give a sh*t how much money I lose, make these kids look good and feel good.’”

Shaq’s relationship with Reebok experienced a resurgence this year after Authentic Brands Group (ABG) purchased the brand from Adidas for $2.5 billion. Shaq has owned ABG shares since 2015 and was critical to the deal, which made him go from partner to partial owner.

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