How Shaquille O’Neal Burned Through $600K on Cars and A Trip to Vegas

Shaquille O'Neal has a penchant for customized luxury cars and has been spending a lot of money on them ever since he entered the NBA.

How Shaquille O’Neal Burned Through $600K on Cars and A Trip to Vegas

Shaquille O'Neal gets custom Cadillac Escalade IQs (Image via FirstSportz)

Ever since Shaquille O’Neal stepped foot onto an NBA court, he has been showing off his larger-than-life persona. Be it to entertain people or to draw endorsement deals, the Big Aristotle has managed to become an expert on how to create a brand as a person.

Now he is mentoring WNBA and fellow LSU alum Angel Reese. She took his advice to heart and has been on a tear this past offseason, appearing at top fashion shows and other places where brands usually follow. Now, she has major deals in her back pocket and is earning a lot more than her measly WNBA salary.

She owns a luxury car in the form of a Mercedes G Wagon. One might believe she was inspired by her mentor. But she needs to earn a lot more to match how O’Neal spends on cars. Since his early days, the 7′ 1″ center has dolled out a lot of cash for heavily customized rides.

His customization rules might have evolved over the years, but he still does not take delivery of any car unless it feels like an extension of him. His $500K Rolls-Royce Cullinan is a prime example of his current tastes. The SUV was modified by West Coast Customs and features a large Superman logo on the grill.

Other than WCC, he also enlists the services of California-based Effortless Motors. O’Neal had assigned them the task of customizing his second Cadillac IQ. After they customized it, for some reason, it was stuck in Las Vegas with expired dealer plates. They flew out to Sin City and installed the new plates. After that, they met up with O’Neal, who lost 100K gambling away at casinos.

Shaquille O’Neal forgot he bought a custom $200K Cadillac

After getting the black Escalade IQ back to Los Angeles, the crew of Effortless Motors went to deliver it. When they rang the doorbell, Shaquille O’Neal looked puzzled and had to be reminded that he had bought the SUV.

Then, when they took him outside to show him the car, the four-time champion was not sure he could fit in the driver’s seat. Effortless Motors’ owner was confident that the big man would fit. When asked to place a bet, O’Neal offered his one-of-a-kind Dodge Hellcat convertible as prize money.

On the other hand, he would want a classic. When the Los Angeles Lakers legend opened the drivers seat, he understood that EM customized it well enough that his 7′ 1″ frame would fit comfortably. He even shouted out other tall NBA stars such as Victor Wembanyama to contact Effortless Motors for any such customization needs.

Other than the legroom customization, the black Cadillac Escalade IQ sported custom 26″ Travis Scott Forgiato wheels. Considering their extremely high retail price, it is possible that Shaquille O’Neal spent approximately $200K on that SUV.

Shaquille O’Neal purchases a third Cadillac IQ

Shaquille O’Neal is known for not being content with one vehicle. In the YouTube video shared by Effortless Motors, several customized vehicles can be seen in the big man’s parking lot. In another video shared by the company, they arrived at his house towards the end of last month to deliver another Cadillac Escalade IQ.

Shaquille O'Neal with his Cybertruck
Shaquille O’Neal with his Cybertruck (Image via Open Source/X)

This time he ordered it in dark grey, not a color that is available from Cadillac. EM also added 28″ custom Forgiato wheels. Considering what was customized, it is possible he blew through another $200K on this SUV. That means, in total, the Inside the NBA analyst burned through $600K on two SUVs, losses in Las Vegas, and the bet he lost to EM.

For someone who earns $15 million from TNT every year and has a net worth of $500 million, that amount might be nothing. At least he can drive the IQs longer than he could with the custom widebody Cybertrucks he had previously.

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