Magic Johnson once advised Shaquille O'Neal about the importance of wealth which helped him build a $400,000,000 business empire

NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal has amassed an astonishing $400 million net worth as of 2023. This stems from the $286.3 million that O’Neal earned over his 19-year NBA career plus endorsements and his post-retirement gig as a TNT basketball analyst.

However, O’Neal has also experienced a ton of success as an entrepreneur, investing in prominent companies such as Ring, Google and various restaurant franchises. O’Neal’s savvy investments have allowed him to become one of the most successful former athletes in the world. According to the big man, he has a fellow NBA legend to thank for his success.

During an interview with journalist and entrepreneur Graham Bensinger, O’Neal spoke about the advice LA Lakers legend Magic Johnson gave him early in his career. O’Neal said Johnson told him that he needed to start investing in assets rather than just relying on his fame to get him by:

“The first time I met Magic Johnson, he pulled me to the side, and he said, ‘It’s ok to be famous, but you want to start owning things’” O’Neal said.

O’Neal said he was confused by Johnson’s advice at first. However, he later came to understand what he meant after studying his behavior:

“19 years old, I’m like, ‘What the hell are you talking about?’”

“But then as I watched him and I studied him, I was like, ‘Okay, this is what it means.’”

Shaquille O’Neal credits his parents for instilling the right principles in him

NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal with his mother Lucille O'Neal

Later in his interview with Graham Bensinger, Shaquille O’Neal touched on the influence of his parents on his life. The big man said that his mother and father always made sure that he was educated and had a good backup plan other than basketball:

“My mother and my father did a very good job of keeping me educated, keeping me understanding that 80% of athletes, when they’re done playing, have nothing,” O’Neal said.

“So, they stressed education, they forced me to go back to school, get my bachelor’s, get my master’s. My mother challenged me to get my doctorate. I did that.”

O’Neal added that his parents were right to stress the importance of education. This is because there were numerous times he could have suffered a career-ending injury and had nothing to fall back on. He said:

“But along the way, I was like, ‘You know what? They’re right’”

“Because there were a lot of times where I could’ve had a career-ending injury, and my mother always used to say, ‘You had a good game, but what if you twist your knee and can’t play anymore? What are you going to do? What if you blow your Achilles? What if?’

"And the ironic thing was I knew that my career was going to end with a career-ending injury. I knew it.”

Luckily for O’Neal, he was still able to play 19 years in the NBA before being forced to retire due to various nagging injuries. Nonetheless, the advice he received from his parents still proved to be invaluable to the big man.