Age, Biography, and Wiki
Shaquille O'Neal was born on March 6, 1972, making him 53 years old as of 2025. He is a retired American basketball player, entrepreneur, television host, and product endorser. Check out his Wikipedia page for a detailed biography: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaquille_O'Neal.
| Occupation | Basketball Players |
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| Date of Birth | 6 March 1972 |
| Age | 53 Years |
| Birth Place | Newark, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Horoscope | Pisces |
| Country | Jersey |
Height, Weight & Measurements
Shaquille O'Neal stands at an impressive 7 feet 1 inch (2.16 m) tall and weighed around 325 pounds (147 kg) during his playing career.
| Height | 7 ft 1 in |
| Weight | 325 lb |
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Dating & Relationship Status
Shaquille O'Neal has been married once, to Shaunie O'Neal, from 2002 to 2011. He has several children from this marriage and other relationships. Currently, Shaq focuses on his family and business ventures.
Toney struggled with drug addiction and was imprisoned for drug possession when O'Neal was an infant. Upon his release, he did not resume a place in O'Neal's life and instead agreed to relinquish his parental rights to O'Neal's Jamaican stepfather, Phillip Arthur Harrison, a career Army sergeant. O'Neal remained estranged from his biological father for decades; O'Neal had not spoken with Toney or expressed an interest in establishing a relationship. On his 1994 rap album, Shaq Fu: The Return, O'Neal voiced his feelings of disdain for Toney in the song "Biological Didn't Bother", dismissing him with the line "Phil is my father." However, O'Neal's feelings toward Toney mellowed in the years following Harrison's death in 2013, and the two met for the first time in March 2016, with O'Neal telling him, "I don't hate you. I had a good life. I had Phil."
O'Neal came from a tall family. His father and mother were 6ft 1in and 6ft 2in tall, respectively, and by age 13, O'Neal was already 6ft 6in tall. He credited the Boys & Girls Clubs of America in Newark with giving him a safe place to play and keeping him off the streets. "It gave me something to do," he said. "I'd just go there to shoot. I didn't even play on a team." Because of his stepfather's career in the military, the family left Newark, moving to military bases in Germany and Texas.
O'Neal became a free agent after the 1995–96 NBA season. In the summer of 1996, O'Neal was named to the United States Olympic basketball team, and was later part of the gold medal-winning team at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. While the Olympic basketball team was training in Orlando, the Orlando Sentinel published a poll that asked whether the Magic should fire Hill if that were one of O'Neal's conditions for returning. 82% answered "no". O'Neal had a power struggle while playing under Hill. He said the team "just didn't respect [Hill]". Another question in the poll asked whether O'Neal was worth $115 million, in reference to the amount of the Magic's offer; 91.3% of the response said it was not. O'Neal's Olympic teammates teased him over the poll. He was also upset that the Orlando media implied O'Neal was not a good role model for having a child with his longtime girlfriend with no immediate plans to marry. O'Neal compared his lack of privacy in Orlando to "feeling like a big fish in a dried-up pond". He also learned that Hardaway considered himself the leader of the Magic and did not want O'Neal making more money than him.
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Net Worth and Salary
As of 2025, Shaquille O'Neal's net worth is estimated to be around $500 million. During his NBA career, he earned approximately $292 million in salary. His current annual salary from TNT is about $15 million, where he works as an NBA analyst on the popular show "Inside the NBA".
In January 2002, he was involved in a spectacular on-court brawl in a game against the Chicago Bulls. He punched center Brad Miller after an intentional foul to prevent a basket, resulting in a melee with Miller, forward Charles Oakley, and several other players. O'Neal was suspended for three games without pay and fined $15,000. For the season, O'Neal averaged 27.2 points and 10.7 rebounds, excellent statistics but below his career average; he was less of a defensive force during the season.
For the 2003–04 season, the team made a concerted off-season effort to improve its roster. They sought the free-agent services of two aging stars—forward Karl Malone and guard Gary Payton—but due to salary cap restrictions, could not offer either player nearly as much money as he could have made with some other teams. O'Neal assisted in the recruitment efforts and personally persuaded both men to join the squad, each forgoing larger salaries in favor of a chance to win an NBA championship. At the beginning of the 2003–04 season, O'Neal wanted a contract extension with a pay raise on his remaining three years for $30 million. The Lakers had hoped O'Neal would take less money due to his age, physical conditioning, and games missed due to injuries. During a preseason game, O'Neal had yelled at Lakers owner Jerry Buss, "Pay me." There had been increasing tension between O'Neal and Bryant. The feud climaxed during training camp prior to the 2003–2004 season when Bryant, in an interview with ESPN journalist Jim Gray, criticized O'Neal for being out of shape, a poor leader, and putting his salary demands over the best interest of the team.
The Lakers made the playoffs in 2004 and lost to the Detroit Pistons in the 2004 NBA Finals. Lakers assistant coach Tex Winter said, "Shaq defeated himself against Detroit. He played way too passively. He had one big game ... He's always interested in being a scorer, but he hasn't had nearly enough concentration on defense and rebounding". After the series, O'Neal was angered by comments made by Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak regarding O'Neal's future with the club, as well as by the departure of Lakers coach Phil Jackson at the request of Buss. O'Neal made comments indicating that he felt the team's decisions were centered on a desire to appease Bryant to the exclusion of all other concerns, and O'Neal promptly demanded a trade. Kupchak wanted the Dallas Mavericks' Dirk Nowitzki in return but Mavericks owner Mark Cuban refused to let his 7-footer go. However, Miami showed interest in O'Neal, and eventually the two clubs agreed on a trade. Winter said, "[O'Neal] left because he couldn't get what he wanted—a huge pay raise. There was no way ownership could give him what he wanted. Shaq's demand
Career, Business, and Investments
Shaquille O'Neal's NBA career spanned 19 years, during which he won four NBA championships and was named a three-time NBA Finals MVP. After retiring from basketball, Shaq has diversified his portfolio significantly:
- NBA Career: Shaq was drafted first overall by the Orlando Magic in 1992 and played for several teams, including the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat.
- Business Ventures: He has invested in numerous brands and franchises, including fast food chains, tech companies, and entertainment ventures. Shaq is among the most prolific franchise entrepreneurs in the U.S.
- Media Career: He is a successful television personality, known for his work on TNT's "Inside the NBA" and has recently signed a contract extension.
Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal (born March 6, 1972), commonly known as Shaq, is an American former professional basketball player who is a sports analyst on the television program Inside the NBA. He is a 7 ft and 325 lb center who played for six teams over his 19-year career in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and is a four-time NBA champion. O'Neal is regarded as one of the greatest basketball players and centers of all time. Multiple sources:
O'Neal's individual accolades include the 1999–2000 Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award; the 1992–93 NBA Rookie of the Year award; 15 All-Star Game selections, three All-Star Game MVP awards; three Finals MVP awards; two scoring titles; 14 All-NBA team selections, and three NBA All-Defensive Team selections. He is one of only three players to win NBA MVP, All-Star Game MVP and Finals MVP awards in the same year (2000); the other players are Willis Reed in 1970 and Michael Jordan in 1996 and 1998. He ranks 9th all-time in points scored, 6th in field goals, 15th in rebounds, and 8th in blocks. O'Neal was honored as one of the league's greatest players of all time by being named to the NBA 50th Anniversary Team in 1996. Due to his ability to dunk the basketball and score from close range, O'Neal also had a 58.2% career field goal percentage and led the league in field goal percentage ten times. O'Neal was elected into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016. He was elected to the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2017. In October 2021, O'Neal was again honored as one of the league's greatest players of all time by being named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team.
In addition to his basketball career, O'Neal has released four rap albums, with his first, Shaq Diesel, going platinum. O'Neal is also an electronic music producer, and touring DJ, known as Diesel. He has appeared in numerous films and has starred in his own reality shows, Shaq's Big Challenge and Shaq Vs. He hosts The Big Podcast with Shaq. He was a minority owner of the Sacramento Kings from 2013 to 2022 and is the general manager of Kings Guard Gaming of the NBA 2K League.
After graduating from high school in 1989, O'Neal studied business at Louisiana State University (LSU). He first met Tigers coach Dale Brown years earlier in Europe when O'Neal's stepfather was stationed on a U.S. Army base at Wildflecken, West Germany. While playing for Brown at LSU, O'Neal was a two-time All-American, two-time SEC Player of the Year, and received the Adolph Rupp Trophy as NCAA men's basketball player of the year in 1991; he was also named college player of the year by Associated Press and UPI. O'Neal left LSU early to pursue his NBA career, but continued his education even after becoming a professional player. He was later inducted into the LSU Hall of Fame. A 900 lb bronze statue of O'Neal is located in front of the LSU Basketball Practice Facility.
In 1993–1994, O'Neal's second season, Hill was the coach and Guokas was reassigned to the front office. O'Neal improved his scoring average to 29.4 points (second in the league to David Robinson) while leading the NBA in field goal percentage at 60%. On November 20, 1993, against the New Jersey Nets, O'Neal registered the first triple-double of his career, recording 24 points to go along with career highs of 28 rebounds and 15 blocks. He was voted into the All-Star game and also made the All-NBA 3rd Team. Teamed with newly drafted Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway, the Magic finished with a record of 50–32 and made the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. In his first playoff series, O'Neal averaged 20.7 points and 13.3 rebounds as the Pacers swept the Magic.
In a November 10, 1999, game against the Houston Rockets, O'Neal and Charles Barkley were ejected. After O'Neal blocked a layup by Barkley, O'Neal shoved Barkley, who then threw the ball at O'Neal. On March 6, 2000, O'Neal's 28th birthday, he scored a career-high 61 points to go along with 23 rebounds and 3 assists in a 123–103 win over the Los Angeles Clippers. O'Neal's 61-point game was the last game in NBA history that a player scored 60 or more points without hitting a 3-pointer until Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 64 points against the Indiana Pacers on December 13, 2023.
Matched up against the Sacramento Kings in the 2002 Western Conference finals, O'Neal said, "There is only one way to beat us. It starts with c and ends with t." O'Neal meant "cheat" in reference to the alleged flopping of Kings' center Vlade Divac. O'Neal referred to Divac as "she", and said he would never exaggerate contact to draw a foul. "I'm a guy with no talent who has gotten this way with hard work." After the 2001–2002 season, O'Neal told friends that he did not want another season of limping and being in virtually constant pain from his big right toe. His trademark mobility and explosion had been often absent. The corrective options ranged from reconstructive surgery on the toe to rehabilitation exercises with more shoe inserts and anti-inflammation medication. O'Neal was already wary of the long-term damage his frequent consumption of these medications might have. He did not want to rush a decision with his career potentially at risk.
O'Neal missed the first 12 games of the 2002–03 season recovering from toe surgery. He was sidelined with hallux rigidus, a degenerative arthritis in his toe. He waited the whole summer until just before training camp for the surgery and explained, "I got hurt on company time, so I'll heal on company time." O'Neal debated whether to have a more invasive surgery that would have kept him out an additional three months, but he opted against the more involved procedure. The Lakers started the season with a record of 11–19. At the end of the season, the Lakers had fallen to the fifth seed and failed to reach the Finals in 2003.
Social Network
Shaquille O'Neal is active on social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram, where he engages with his fans and promotes his business ventures.
In the 2001 NBA Finals against the 76ers, O'Neal fouled out in Game 3 backing over Dikembe Mutombo, the 2000–2001 Defensive Player of the Year. "I didn't think the best defensive player in the game would be flopping like that. It's a shame that the referees buy into that", O'Neal said. "I wish he'd stand up and play me like a man instead of flopping and crying every time I back him down.
Education
Shaquille O'Neal attended the Louisiana State University (LSU) on a basketball scholarship before entering the NBA. He later earned a doctoral degree in education from Barry University in 2012.
After playing college basketball for the LSU Tigers, O'Neal was selected by the Orlando Magic with the first overall pick in the 1992 NBA draft. He quickly became one of the best centers in the league, winning NBA Rookie of the Year in 1992–93 and leading his team to the 1995 NBA Finals. After four years with the Magic, O'Neal signed as a free agent with the Los Angeles Lakers. They won three consecutive championships in 2000, 2001, and 2002. Amid a feud between O'Neal and his teammate Kobe Bryant, O'Neal was traded to the Miami Heat in 2004, and his fourth NBA championship followed in 2006. Midway through the 2007–2008 season he was traded to the Phoenix Suns. After a season-and-a-half with the Suns, O'Neal was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2009–10 season. O'Neal played for the Boston Celtics in the 2010–11 season before retiring.
After returning from Germany, O'Neal's family settled in San Antonio, Texas. By age 16, O'Neal had grown to 6ft 10in, and he began playing basketball at Robert G. Cole High School. He led his team to a 68–1 record over two years and helped the team win the state championship during his senior year. His 791 rebounds during the 1989 season remains a state record for a player in any classification. Cole High retired O'Neal's No. 33 in 2014. According to O'Neal, he wanted to wear 33 because he had made a sky hook and received comparisons to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who wore 33. In 2021, O'Neal's said his admiration for Patrick Ewing inspired him to wear 33.
