With a net worth of $500million, Shaquille O’Neal is unlikely to be satisfied with a $100 parlay.
But the amounts he was banding about with Charles Barkley Tuesday night were enough to raise billionaire Elon Musk‘s eyebrows.
Shaq put his money where his mouth is[/caption]
Shaq and Chuck were previewing the Cleveland Cavaliers‘ showdown with the reigning NBA champion Boston Celtics.
And the Los Angeles Lakers legend was very confident about the result.
“Cavs by 10,” he declared and Barkley immediately bit.
“Bet How much? $2 million,” he said.
The NBA Cup wager eventually made its way to $5million as both men refused to back down.
“This dude has never paid a bet in 20 years,” co-host Kenny Smith warned Chuck of Shaq.
O’Neal asked somebody to fetch his bag of bills and started stacking them on the table.
A closer look revealed it was prop money – which is lucky for Shaq as the Cavs went on to lose 120-117.
Jayson Tatum scored 33 points to end Cleveland’s unbeaten streak.
Shaq worked out that he owed Barkley $30,000 after taxes in a questionable bit of math.
Barkley looked set for a huge payday[/caption]
But the cameras revealed Shaq’s trick[/caption]
He is notorious for paying out in prop money.
Eight months ago, the basketball great made a wager with Jamal Crawford over the Phoenix Suns and the Denver Nuggets
After losing, he paid a delighted Crawford who was then stunned to find the $100 bills had Shaq’s face printed on them.
The Cavs were on a 15-game win streak and will hope O’Neal decides to bet on somebody else in future.
“You want to be a part of history in that regard. But it’s a thing of the past. It’s over with. And, you know, it was a good run,” said Donovan Mitchell after scoring 35 points in the loss.
“It was fun. When you’re playing basketball, good basketball, and obviously winning games – whether it’s blowouts, close games, come-from-behind wins – you enjoy these moments.
“This was a great test for us, and unfortunately we didn’t get the win.
“It’s definitely a measuring stick. You want to see where you’re at, but not hold too much weight on it.
“We’re not going to be the same team now that we are in April.”
“Yeah, we knew,” said Celtics guard Derrick White when asked if ending a winning run was extra motivation.
“Everybody knew that they were undefeated and coming to our building.
“And also, it’s an NBA Cup game, and we already lost one game. So, it was a really big game in that aspect. So, we were all aware.”
