When Shaquille O'Neal’s missing ‘quarter million dollars’ discovery surprised his accountant

NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neal boasts one of the largest net worths of any player, both past and present. With hundreds of millions in career earnings and money from endorsements and investments, O'Neal is certainly "rolling in it."

As it turns out, O'Neal took the phrase to heart, and after buying up a bunch of coin-operated laundry machines, decided to keep his money. Rather than deposit it in the bank, O'Neal collected it in barrels that he stored in his room. Over time the money accumulated to the point that Big Diesel had $250,000 in quarters stashed in barrels in his house.

It got so out of hand that at one point his accountant Lester became absolutely baffled by the missing money. As the man who managed all of O'Neal's wealth, a missing quarter-million dollars spelled trouble for the accountant.

According to Shaq-Fu, his accountant was "freaking out" about the money. After some time, O'Neal came clean and showed Lester his collection.

In his autobiography, O'Neal recalls:

“It took me a while, but I finally came clean with him. I showed Lester my bedroom, where there were a whole bunch of wooden rain barrels—full of quarters. Lester said, ‘Shaquille, what the hell is this? Is this the missing money?’ ‘Yes,’ I admitted. ‘Lester, I can’t help it. I like seeing my money. Come here, run your fingers through all these quarters. It’s awesome!’”

As the story goes, eventually O'Neal and Lester were able to get all of the money deposited and accounted for. According to the book, the whole ordeal of depositing a quarter of a million dollars in quarters took about a week to deposit incrementally.

Below you can see a tour of Shaq's $16 million mansion in Florida to get an idea of how the NBA Hall of Famer managed to collect $250,000 in quarters.

The time Shaquille O'Neal's accountant had to teach him a tough lesson

When Shaq got to the league and signed the largest contract in professional sports, he managed to spend his entire first-year salary on accident.

Although O'Neal's contract was worth $120 million over 7 years, he wasn't getting the $20 million a year he thought he was. Due to California's tax structure, O'Neal wound up giving up nearly half of his money to taxes.

He recalled the conversation he had with his accountant during a podcast appearance with Gary Vaynerchuk.

“You just spent your whole first-year salary.”, to which he responded, “No! 20 million, I only spent about 10!”

After learning that he was only going to get a million for the rest of the year's contract, O'Neal wasn't too pleased.

“So when I saw my cheque with 10.9 million and I had spent 9 million. Boy, was I upset with myself. I really was.”

Shaquille O'Neal's $400 Million Net Worth

Shaquille O'Neal's net worth didn't climb to nearly half a billion dollars by accident. After being drafted by the Orlando Magic in 1992, O'Neal got to work on investing and making a name off his image. Appearing in commercials for brands like Icy-Hot and The General insurance, among others, Shaquille O'Neal's net worth continued to climb well after retirement.

Surprisingly, not all of O'Neal's money comes from his earnings in the league. According to CelebrityNetWorth, O'Neal made $292 million from his NBA contracts. At the same time, however, he was racking up a lot of money from endorsements.

It created a strong foundation for O'Neal and his children so that even after he walked away from the game, his family's financial future was secure. Since then, O'Neal has only continued to diversify his portfolio, investing in more businesses across a wide range of industries.

Shaquille O'Neal's career and earnings

Upon entering the league, Shaquille O'Neal signed a major deal that saw him earning over six million a year as a rookie with the Orlando Magic. Each year, O'Neal's earnings increased by about a million and a half U.S. dollars before he signed a blockbuster contract with the Lakers prior to the 1996-97 season.

From then on, O'Neal continued to make truckloads of money up until his 2004-05 season with the Miami Heat where he earned a whopping $43 million a year. Since then, his earnings have steadily declined leading up to his retirement.

Check out the video below breaking down how O'Neal spent over $400 million.