The REAL reason Shaq left Reebok to start his own shoe brand | Draymond Green Show

Welcome to the brand new Draymond Green Show YouTube channel. Hit subscribe so you don't miss out on any of our content. You did the unthinkable. We've seen a couple guys attempt to do it then. I think the latest and most popular was Big Baller Brand with the Ball family. You started Shaq, the apparel line, sneakers, clothes. And starting that as a household name, as the Shaquille O'Neal, most dominant player we've ever seen play. I remember 6th grade, a pair of shoes that my grandfather bought me from Kmart, I wanna say. It was the Shaqs. They were the kind of all white with the black down the middle, like through the sole, through the tongue. Kinda had like a, $30. As a household name, as people say premium, like you wanna do premium things. You said, no, I'm gonna have these $30 sneakers. Number one, how did you accomplish that? Because you're going up against Nike. You're now the president of Reebok, owner and president of Reebok. Adidas, you're going up against all these brands and you say, no, I'm gonna go do my own. Help me understand, how did you go about that process? Who did you do it with to help you understand the marketing and the distribution and all of those things initially to start it?

So one day me and my cousin Kenny, we're leaving practice in Orlando Magic. And Orlando Magic was the first arena they had, was in the hood. So they used to come out, Shaq, Shaq. Matter of fact, Marquise Daniels, when I was playing with him with Boston one time, he said, "Yo man, you don't remember me?" And I said, "No." And he showed me a picture. He was one of those kids that used to always come and get autograph jerseys and get tickets and all that. Yeah. So one day me and my cousin Kenny, we walking out the back and this lady, she's coming, she's, you know, dragging her son and she's not smiling. The boy's, "Shaq, Shaq." She's not smiling. And she's like, "You motherfucker." And I was like, "What'd I do? I don't know you." "You motherfuckers got these high-ass motherfucking sneakers. My baby, you know, he want these fucking high-ass Reeboks and I can't afford 'em." So you know me, I had a couple stacks. I was like, "Ma'am, I don't do the price point. Here's the money." And she smacked the money out my hand. "I don't want that. Why don't you motherfuckers make an affordable shoe?" And I'm riding in the car and I'm thinking, I was like, that was my mom and me. I asked my dad for some Jordans one time. That motherfucker looked at me like, "Man, you better get the fuck out my face." He looked at me like that. Yeah. I had to cut grass and fucking wash car and sell lemonade and all that bullshit. And then by the time I got my $110, I was a size 15. I bought some 13s. That's why my toe's all fucked up. I ain't gonna show my toes on camera. That's something like, I tried to squeeze in those Jordans. So all that shit was going back to me and I said, you know what? Call Reebok and tell 'em after this, I'm gonna do my own thing. So if you look at this brand right here, and we're all creatures, creatures of our environment. Jordan has to what?

The Jumpman.

And this is the Dunkman. So when I was in college one time, the professor said create something that you can see being sold in the future. And you know me, Shaq shirt, Shaq drawers, Shaq socks. So I, you know, I was in the marketing class, I was in business class, so I patented the Dunkman 'cause that's how I dunk. I try to put my nuts in your face. So this right here, Dunkman, was created in '89, '90. And I was going and then, I was talking to my dad about it. I was like, this shit might not work. I'm going up against these powerhouses. And he said something. He said, there's more poor people than there are rich people. I was like, shit. So, you know, I think it only worked because I was a household name. You know, of course you had Jordan and all those guys, but I was saying, I'm Shaq. And the only thing that took me a while to get is even though they're $30, you can't make them look like they're $30. 'Cause you know how we get fucking criticized in the hood. And like, people always hear stories how people used to get bullied for wearing my shoes. That's because their mindset wasn't right. I never made shoes that looked like $30.

Yeah.

I even went over to China and be like, "Motherfucker, I want the same leather. I want the same everything." So I just tried to keep the price point down. And that's why I did that, 'cause you know, it was the right thing to do. And you know, when it was, Reebok, another person, then me. Now it's just me and the shoe manufacturer guy. So, you know, if you could go with Walmart, who has 50,000 stores, Kmart got that, and then it was a, it was a no-brainer. And then you get with all these companies and they say, okay, uh, we, we don't want the Shaq brand. I'll say, okay, so I'll just create the Dunkman brand. So Dunkman was at Kmart. And Shaq was at Walmart, and I was just— and I just sat back. It wasn't like, you know, because listen, back then, when I first came in, brother, I had so much money I didn't need no more money. So I was like, if I don't make money, cool. But, you know, I got a report one day, I said, bro, you done sold— since you started this, you done sold 250. It's up to about 400 million pair now. But now we're— I got this new company, and we coming with that funk now. We about to— so we were downstairs, so we're about to come mid-level, and then, you know, even, even, you know, upstairs. Because Magic Johnson said something to me very important. He said, it's okay to be the man, but at some point you want to start owning things. So this is what I own, this is mine, and, you know, a lot of people like it and respect it, and I'm gonna keep giving them stuff that looks good but at a price that they can afford.

In 2016, a friend of mine introduced me to Authentic Brand Groups. I had no clue what the fuck it was, what they did, what it meant, how you go about it. As I've gained more business knowledge and contacts, I've learned more about what it is. And when I was introduced to Authentic Brands Group, I was actually introduced to it by, this is who Shaq just partnered with. And I thought it was a very interesting lesson for me because it was, this is who Shaq just partnered with, not this is who Shaq just sold his company to. Can you walk me through that process of you partner with Authentic Brand Group but necessarily didn't take all cash or something?

Yeah, so ever since a youngster, jealousy motivates me. Jealous of Steph Curry. I wish I could fucking shoot like that. I'm jealous of Draymond Green. I wish my jump shot was that motherfucking pretty. Like, I'm jealous of LeBron. He's almost a billionaire. I'm not. Instead of taking that jealousy and turning it into hate, it turns into motivation. So I'm walking down Hollywood Boulevard and I'm like, how the fuck does Elvis, who's been dead for 60 years, still make money? So now I start studying. 'Cause bro, I'm walking down Hollywood, every fucking store, bro, Elvis shirts, hats. And this was towards the end of Shaq. And you know how it is towards the end, them motherfuckers act like they forget who you are.

Absolutely.

I'm like, you know what, fuck that. I wanna live forever. So I'm seeing all this Elvis and Marilyn Monroe shit. So I did my research and I met with two companies and I was like, hey, I wanna, you know, this is who I am and this is what I built. You know, me, Mike, and Perry, and then Colin, and Leonard Armato. This is what we built. Would you be interested in, you know, doing a partnership with it? And the first company's like, yeah, we wanna buy it, we wanna own it. I said, how much you talking? Nope. And then, you know, I've met with, you know, authentic brands. They say, hey, yeah, we want to buy, we want to be your partners. I said, well, can I invest in your company? So they wrote me a big check and I wrote them a big check and now I'm the number 2. And basically what this does is just make sure my name lives forever. And if it doesn't live forever, all the brands that we own, my business still live together. And again, it's all about family. I have 7 kids.

Mm-hmm.

You know, my kids got mad at me because I, you know, I did a little speech and I was trying to be funny, but I was serious. We're not rich.

Right.

I'm rich. So I want them to be able to work and understand. And, you know, because like I always show them what respectable nepotism is. I took my second son Sharif with me to a business conference and he was amazed at the Walmart family will make every member that wants to be— would I work with the family, they'll make them take an aptitude test. And however you score on the test, that's where you're going to start at. So one guy who's a part of Walmart family was very wealthy. He's like, I didn't take the test seriously, so my uncle made me shuffle shit for 2 years at the horse farm, but teaching them the business of horse manure business. And I was so like— he learned that. So Sharif was amazed. I was like, this is how it works, my brother. I'm here. But only the kids can take it boom, boom, boom, boom, bam. And that's what I'm, you know, trying to, you know, show my kids.

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