tech superstore tm:rw<\/a>, which he joined as an investor and partner, he keeps it low key.<\/p>\n\u201cWhenever I come, it\u2019s me and two guys. No entourage. There\u2019s nothing but homeboys coming in,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe come in here, we take care of business \u2026 We sign autographs. We treat people with honor and respect \u2026 I want to be a regular guy.\u201d<\/p>\n
O\u2019Neal, 54, also stays grounded and has never stopped hitting the books, and currently has three degrees \u2014 a bachelor\u2019s of arts, an MBA, and a PhD in education.<\/p>\n
Many people think he didn\u2019t actually earn the Dr. before his name.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe funniest thing I get is, \u2018Oh it\u2019s honorary.\u2019 I say, \u2018No, it\u2019s not. I had to go to school and write papers and do all that stuff,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was playing against the Knicks, they were not nice, but that\u2019s just part of the business. I don\u2019t take anything personal,\u201d Shaq said about his fans in New York. tm:rw<\/p>\n
The four-time NBA champ, who has a net worth of $500 million, earned his PhD from Barry University in Miami in 2012 to set an example for his six children and his young fans.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very super successful without that, but I wanted to stress to my children and children around that education is very important,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The Louisiana State University alum \u2014 who left college after his junior year for the NBA, but went back to complete his bachelor\u2019s \u2014 stressed the value of athletes getting schooled in business.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe talk about the NIL [student-athlete using their name, image or likeness to earn money] what\u2019s going on now. People always go to the money first, but you have to have the education on how to manage the money,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo I want my children and those that follow me to say, \u2018OK, he\u2019s educated. Maybe I should do it.’\u201d<\/p>\n
The multimillionaire just invested in the tech superstore tm:rw. \u201cWhen it comes to investing, I don\u2019t invest for monetary purposes. I try to invest in things that I believe in and things that are going to change people\u2019s lives,\u201d he said. tm:rw<\/p>\n
Dr. O\u2019Neal is currently working on a fourth degree: a master\u2019s in liberal arts.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought about sports psychology, but it was a little too much for me, the psychology field,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In addition to his multiple degrees, O\u2019Neal can also add real estate investor to his resume.<\/p>\n
A native of Newark, he made sure to stop by his former neighborhood during his most recent NYC trip.<\/p>\n
He said the area has changed for the better, partly because of his investments \u2014 two residential high-rises valued together at more than $230 million.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was part of my vision because one day, me and my mom came back and it was kind of beat up, and she kind of had a tear in her eye, and was like, \u2018I remember when this city was beautiful. Somebody needs to do something.’\u201d<\/p>\n
The four-time NBA champ said his favorite memorabilia comes from his days playing with Kobe Bryant. REUTERS<\/p>\n
Although he played in the NBA for 19 seasons, the Hall of Famer\u2019s favorite pieces of memorabilia come from his days playing with the late Kobe Bryant on the Los Angeles Lakers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a lot of Shaq and Kobe stuff in the house. It just brings back memories of the greatest one-two punch ever.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked about the cons to being 7\u2032 1\u2033 \u2014 the powerhouse smiled and said, <\/p>\n
\u201cNone. When you\u2019re this tall and this beautiful, it\u2019s awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He\u2019s no longer a team player. Shaquille O\u2019Neal has put himself in a timeout from his fellow ballplayers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":713229,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3724],"tags":[3713,7,74868,1997,12403,1536,150,84865,1302,66,2086,71630],"class_list":{"0":"post-713228","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-athletes","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-college-degree","11":"tag-exclusive","12":"tag-investors","13":"tag-kobe-bryant","14":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","15":"tag-newark","16":"tag-shaquille-oneal","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-sports-entertainment","19":"tag-times-square"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116426087047827823","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=713228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713228\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/713229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=713228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=713228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=713228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}