Shaq is not a man to mess with, but every once in a while, he takes notice when some harsh words are thrown his way. NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal revealed how he walked away from a massive $40 million dollar deal with Rebook. Why you ask? Well according to the Big Diesel, he was confronted by a woman who called him out for selling his shoes at a price kids couldn’t even dream of affording.
“I had $2,000 in my pocket. I said, ‘Lady I don’t make the prices. Here you go, and she smacked the money out of my hand, [and said], ‘Why don’t you motherf–kers make a shoe that’s affordable?’”
That chance encounter compelled Shaq to end his ties with the shoe brand.
“That day, I cut ties with Reebok,” he said, forgoing a $40 million deal he had with the brand.
“I said keep the money… this ain’t right. I’ll still wear the shoes I do during the season, but I’ll be looking to do my own thing,” he said. “So, I started the Shaq brand. I went to my favorite store, Walmart, and we did a deal. I was in all stores and my price point for the shoes was $29-$19 and since then we sold over 400 million pairs.” He added that he brought on designers from Reebok to join him in the new Walmart venture. “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 played in Reebok on-court for his entire career, but his shoes never had the cache of other stars.
It probably had something to do with his enormous stature.
It’s hard for people to relate to the Big Diesel.
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