Basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal never set out to be a billionaire. Early in his life, the dream was pretty modest for someone of his future stature. “My dream was to make $8 million [over] 10 years. That's $800,000 a year,” he said on a recent episode of “The Pivot Podcast.” Then, as it happens when you become a basketball superstar, “the money changed.”
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A Bigger Paycheck, A Bigger Mission
As the checks got larger, O’Neal said, the responsibility that came with them did too. He was able to make $40 million. He then had a thought: “You know what? You're not working no more, mama. Daddy, you ain’t working no more. Brothers and sisters, I'm going to pay for all your sh*t too.”
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That shift, he explained, was about something deeper. “That was my higher purpose,” he said.
Throughout the interview, O’Neal reflected on growing up as a self-described “high-level juvenile delinquent.” His grandmother was the only one who didn't discipline him. He promised her that one day, he’d buy her a house. She asked for one across the street from where they lived. It was just a regular house. “So when I got some money, I knocked on the lady's door, said ‘I want to buy your house,’ she gave me a price and I doubled her price, and bought my grandmother her house.”
Shaq said he did the same for his parents. He bought his mom a house and a car. Then he did the same for his siblings. Still, he admitted he carries regrets. “I never told them thank you. That's why I cry. We live, we die, everybody has to die,” he said.
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Still Motivated, Never Satisfied
Even now, O’Neal says he doesn't feel fulfilled. “I could stop right now, but I don't want to stop. You know why I don't want to stop? For them. I read all the time and I’m looking at the Rockefellers and the Rothschilds. I want my kids to be the O’Neals.”
He also explained how he stays driven. It often comes from unexpected places, like jealousy. He described one moment in the Bahamas where he was enjoying time on a rented yacht, projecting success before truly feeling he had earned it. But then, an older man arrived on a much larger yacht, surrounded by a younger wife and her friends. The sight struck him. In his words, “He was living my life.” That moment became fuel: “I want to get enough to where I could get a big yacht and live somewhere blue. That’s my new fake motivation.”
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