As we’ve all learned by now, knowing what NBA vet Shaquille O’Neal will get into next is essentially impossible. From revealing just how much he bet on the Jake Paul/Mike Tyson fight to humorously crashing into on-set Christmas trees(again and again), the man knows how to keep his fans surprised. One of his latest unexpected and mind-boggling stories also involves the celeb’s deep pockets, as he reportedly dropped $70k on a Walmart trip.
During an appearance on The Late Late Show with James Corden, the Inside the NBA co-host revealed he has the largest purchase history at Walmart: $70,000. The historic-ish record went down as part of furnishing an apartment he got in Phoenix after being traded to the Suns. The place came unfurnished, and Shaq says he isn’t the kind of person to procrastinates about such issues, so he went directly to Walmart to buy everything that he needed.
In the clip shared on big_shaqfc’s Instagram, the athlete said this about his initial arrival in Arizona and his shopping list:
I get traded from Miami to Phoenix. I’m the type of guy to have no patience. So, when I get to Phoenix y’know they have an apartment for me. Nothing’s in it so…2, 3 in the morning I gotta go get 4 or 5 TV’s, I gotta go get printers, I gotta go get laptops, gotta go get appliances, sheets, towels, underwear, t-shirts.
The sports analyst and entrepreneur is no stranger to large-scale purchases. He’s spent one million dollars in a day, leaning all about FICA in the process, and has paid the bill for an entire restaurant of patrons after taking a date to that establishment. Lots of stories like these have been shared over the years, but not one quite like this.
He went on to share his experience while checking out with $70k bill:
So I put my credit card in and it got declined. So I pulled it out and I put it back in. It said declined again, so now I would say…I know I’m not broke.
Unsurprisingly, the card got flagged, and he ended up having to get on the phone with his bank to confirm that he wasn’t make such purchases illegally. As he put it:
So then the American Express security called me. ‘Hey, man, somebody stole your credit card and they spent 70,000 dollars at Walmart!’ and I said, ‘No, that was me.’
The Uncle Drew alum’s spending prowess can even be shocking for his bank, though I guess having that big of a Walmart bill would be a blight on anyone’s statement. But I’m not even sure how many others with that kind of budget would be so proactive in personally furnishing a new home so quickly by themselves, and at Walmart no less. It is why such mega-stores exist, of course; you can get anything and everything you want there: printers, linens, and clothing, and all in the middle of the night, which isn’t so much a possibility in the post-COVID world.
If you’d like to see the Kazam star tell it himself, check the video out below.
There’s a more intentional and mindful side to his various spending habits, which is the true piece to take away from his public monetary adventures. Back in 2022, he donated to loved ones and those affected by the Buffalo supermarket tragedy in Western NY. Along with it, and other stories, he bonds with a six-year-old and buys them shoes. And this just speaks to his personal life, he’s of course been a household name for decades between his basketball career and beyond.
Thankfully, Inside the NBA has gotten saved and I’m really glad to know that the iconic show isn’t ending, they just need to iron out the Shaq details. It just wouldn’t be the same without him. Outside of media projects, the Grown Ups 2 actor has been a regular and astute investor in many food franchises amongst other notable businesses, including Google. Also, if you missed it, the former basketball all-star has his own line of gummies, available at his beloved Walmart.
What will Shaquille O’Neal spend his money on next? No one knows, but I have a feeling it will be wild and as out of the blue as the rest of the archive, even if not another record-breaking $70k Walmart purchase.
