Shaquille O’Neal’s net worth is pretty high. According to Celebrity Net Worth, his net worth is $400 million. That’s a lot of money right there. As a player, O’Neal was one of the highest-paid NBA players in history.

He continued to get paid after he retired through other endorsements and TV appearances. But when Shaq first got into the league, he went crazy when he got his first NBA check.

Shaq’s rookie season

The Orlando Magic selected O’Neal with the first overall pick in the 1992 NBA draft. O’Neal enjoyed an impressive rookie season in the NBA. He was named Rookie of the Year and played in his first-ever all-star game as a rookie.

The big man out of LSU quickly became a household name around the league. He finished his rookie year, averaging 23.4 points and 13.9 rebounds per game. His average in rebounds his rookie season were the most in his career.

It’s no question that O’Neal deserved to get paid based on his performance on the court. When he first got his rookie contract, he was like a kid in the candy store.

Shaq spent how much in less than an hour?

You would receive a lot of different answers if you asked numerous people what they would do when they receive $1 million. For Shaq, he wasted no time when he got that money. The rookie was buying up things left and right, and before he knew it, it was all gone.

How could someone spend that much money in that amount of time? Well, let’s take a look at how O’Neal was able to accomplish that.

An hour after he signed his first contract, O’Neal was ready to spend some cash. His first purchase was a $150,000 Mercedes Benz. After he bought the car, he got a matching one for his dad and a smaller one for his one that cost $100,000. It wouldn’t have been right if O’Neal didn’t buy a house for his mom, so that’s what he did, and he ended up paying off that house too.

After he took care of his parents, he splurged on himself. He bought jewelry and clothes and was spending money on top of money. By the time you knew it, O’Neal quickly spent $1 million in less than an hour. But he was not mad or upset about it.

‘It was well worth it’

In a CNN article, O’Neal looked back when he spent all that money and said, ‘it was well worth it.’ ‘My momma is happy, her house is paid for; she had the car that she knows she would never get in her dreams, a Mercedes-Benz. My father (had) one, I had one. I was good,’ O’Neal said in the article.

O’Neal was living out his dream when he finally made it to the NBA. He was in a position where he could take care of himself and his parents. When he got that first check, he couldn’t help but to make sure he and his family were good.

Learning how to manage his money

Over time, O’Neal learned how to manage his money. He knew that he had to educate himself on how to maintain the money that he made and not blow it all at once. That’s something that many professional athletes did not take advantage of.

With all the endorsements that O’Neal has right now, he is in a good place financially, and he doesn’t have anything to worry about. His family is taken care of all because he made the right decisions during his time in the league, even though he spent $1 million when he got his first check.