Shaquille O’Neal Claims That He Was Envious of Michael Jordan’s Nike Line
Early in his career, Shaquille O’Neal made a significant contribution to the sneaker industry by collaborating with Reebok to release some of the most recognizable basketball sneakers of the 1990s. His choice to collaborate with Walmart to produce reasonably priced children’s sneakers, however, was what really made him stand out. Shaq wanted to ensure that […] The post Shaquille O’Neal Claims That He Was Envious of Michael Jordan’s Nike Line appeared first on BlackSportsOnline.
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Early in his career, Shaquille O’Neal made a significant contribution to the sneaker industry by collaborating with Reebok to release some of the most recognizable basketball sneakers of the 1990s. His choice to collaborate with Walmart to produce reasonably priced children’s sneakers, however, was what really made him stand out.
Shaq wanted to ensure that no youngster was excluded simply because their family was unable to purchase pricey shoes. The outcome? Millions of pairs were sold, demonstrating Shaq’s dominance in business as much as in painting. Nevertheless, O’Neal acknowledged that he detested losing the footwear game to Nike and Michael Jordan.
In a recent interview with The Pivot podcast, he talked candidly about it.
Shaquille O’Neal shares the origin of his shoe line
When a child begged him to get a pair of Jordan 12s, the now 53-year-old superstar said that it made him understand how far ahead MJ was. Shaq and Reebok only had a small portion of Jordan’s almost dozen trademark shoes at the time.
Grinning, he said: “I’m calling up Reebok and I’m like, ‘How many f***ing shoes do I got?’ No seriously,” . “Where my sh** at?”
“I learned in business, it’s okay to be next to the man,”
“I encouraged my guys, I said we got to buy Reebok. We got to buy Reebok and bring em back. For me, it was just the opportunity to bring em back to some type of prominence,”
“I go to all these tournaments, and I don’t see anybody wearing Reebok. I’m like damn. What the f**k happened?”
“I encourage my partners to buy it, and I say, ‘Hey, make me the president. I think we need to make AI the vice president,” ““I don’t know about you, but jealousy moves me. Like when I see something, I get jealous, but I get jealous on the positive side,”
Allen Iverson was brought in not just because of the success of “The Answer,” but also because of his ability to target smaller players while aiming for future big guys. Shaq’s new Netflix series Power Moves delves deeply into his journey.
The post Shaquille O’Neal Claims That He Was Envious of Michael Jordan’s Nike Line appeared first on BlackSportsOnline.
