Shaquille O’Neal is a $400 million NBA icon for whom $155,000 or $55,000 doesn’t make a difference when it comes to valuations.
At 7’1 and his height, Shaq earned nicknames, fame and stardom in the NBA. However, one price the great man had to pay for stature was when it came to owning vehicles.
Being big is one thing, being Shaq’s size is another. The former NBA champion has had to spend a lot of money in most cases to customize the vehicles for his comfort.
Also read: When Shaquille O’Neal bought $5,300 worth of furniture for his $16 million home in Miami
West Coast Choppers and founder Jesse James have been recipients of many Shaq-sized checks. The main man behind Jesse James: Monster Garage is one of the most famous custom motorcycle producers in the United States and caters to a catalog of celebrities.
On the Graham Bensinger Show, James had a question for Shaquille O’Neal.
Why did Shaquille O’Neal tell everyone at the Century Club that his bike was worth $155,000 when it was actually worth $55,000?
Any normal celebrity would have been caught off guard on live television. After all, this was about as clear as it could get with regards to a lie being revealed.
However, Shaquille O’Neal is as nonchalant as he seems. Shaq dismissed any suggestion that she was a show-off almost instantly. The Jesse James story was not going to be a Kryptonite for Superman.
Shaq said he overpriced the bike for James to get that recognition. O’Neal stated that he did it knowing that people would go to James for the same $155,000 customization and that the $100,000 difference in valuation was then James’ profit.
Big Diesel’s escape route to getting stuck in 4k was adventurous, to say the least. Suspicion still lingers as to whether he was “limiting”, but we can give the gentle giant a pass. Or maybe Shaq comes out later and reveals that he was lying, something that happened in the past.
When did Shaq admit to lying just to create a narrative in the past?
Shaquille O’Neal was an upstart in a league full of superstar centers in the ’90s. David Robinson was up there in that discussion of the best centers in the league at the time.
Shaq had created a rivalry narrative around him with a story. O’Neal claimed that Robinson had rebuffed his attempt to get an autograph when he was young and claimed that he had it against Robinson.
This fueled a lot of “beef” talk around the two stars. And to this was added his notorious fight for a scoring title.
However, years later, Big Diesel admitted that he had exaggerated the story. In his own words, “When I was in high school, he met me, he was like, ‘Oh, how nice it was to meet you,’ and I was like, ‘Wow, what a nice man.’ So when I had to play against him, I had to make up a story in my head… Because me, when I’m upset, I play better and I play harder.”
So yes, there have been instances in the past where Shaq lied, and then came clean. Only time will tell if the overpriced bike was one of those cases or not.
Also read: ‘I’m definitely offended’: Shaquille O’Neal lied about hooking up with Furious Left Tennis Star Venus Williams
