Shaquille O’Neal Once Spent $70,000 in a Single Walmart Trip

Shaq says it’s the biggest single purchase in Walmart history.

Have you ever wondered how a player gets settled in after they get traded to a new city? If you’re Shaquille O’Neal, you just go to Walmart and buy everything you could possibly need to fill a new apartment. Everything. To the tune of $70,000.

Shaq was a guest on HBO’s Real Sports and revealed that after being traded from the Heat to the Suns, he went on a shopping spree at Walmart to furnish his new home in Arizona. 

“I have the highest purchase in Walmart history. The CEO will confirm that. I spent about $70,000 at Walmart—in one night,” Shaq explained. “I spent so much, American Express thought my credit card was stolen. True story. ... I get traded from Miami and I go to Phoenix. And I’m very impatient. They’ve already got the apartment set up, but I ain’t got nothin’. I ain’t got no towels. I ain’t got no pots and pans. I ain’t got no TVs.”

When it was all said and done, Shaq need “a couple of trucks” to take everything away. 

And it wasn’t just home goods. Shaq said he also bough tanktops and underwear, which might be the most shocking part of all of this. Walmart carries clothes in Shaq’s size?