Featured Image Credit: HotFreestyle/The Late Late Show with James Corden
Topics: Shaquille ONeal, NBA
Nasir Jabbar
Topics: Shaquille ONeal, NBA
Shaquille O'Neal made the most expensive purchase in Walmart history, and it concerned security at American Express
O'Neal - affectionately known as Shaq - earned millions during his legendary NBA career.
And his switch from Miami Heat to Phoenix Suns in 2008 was a lucrative, big-money deal.
Shaq arrived in Arizona with an apartment that wasn't furnished so he paid a visit to Walmart, where he splashed out a whopping $70,000 to kit out his new home.
He went to Walmart, which used to be open 24/7 in the United States, to fill up his apartment, purchasing TVs and clothes, among other items.
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Speaking to James Corden on The Late Late Show in 2018, the four-time NBA champion said: "I have the biggest purchase in Walmart history.
"$70,000. I get traded from Miami to Phoenix, and I'm the type of guy [that] I have no patience.
"So, when I get to Phoenix, they have an apartment for me. Nothing's in it.
"Two or three in the morning, I gotta go get four or five TVs, I gotta go get printers, I gotta go get laptops. I gotta go get sheets, towels, underwear, t-shirts.
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"So, at the end it was $70,000 so I put my credit card in and it got declined. So, I pulled it out."
Shaq's splurge, however, concerned American Express, who cancelled his card thinking it had been stolen.
On his spending spree, he added: "I put it back in and it said declined again. So now I'm saying 'well, I know I'm not broke'.
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"So, I just said 'alright, I'll be back' and then the American Express security called me [and he said] 'hey man, somebody stole your credit card, and they spent $70,000 at Walmart'.
"I said 'no that was me', [the security guard replied] 'what the hell are you buying for $70,000?'"
Shaq's Walmart binge was ultimately in vain as he spent just two seasons with the Suns, leaving the team in 2009.