Shaquille O'Neal attends an event. (Image: Scott Mlyn | CNBC)
Shaquille O’Neal is one of the most familiar faces on sports television right now, but what is his salary working for TNT?
Shaquille O’Neal is widely regarded as one of the best players to ever step on a basketball court and one of the best centers to have ever existed in the history of the NBA. While Shaq was a physical specimen known for combining strength, speed and agility during his career spanning over 19 years, Shaq is known for several different professions since hanging his boots.
The four time NBA champion and MVP award winner is an entrepreneur, artist, commentator, as well as an NBA analyst who is a co-host on the Inside The NBA show on TNT. Shaq has stayed relevant in the basketball community even more than a decade after he hang up his boots in 2011 courtesy of his stint as a co-host and analyst on the famous Warner Brothers produced talk show.
Fellow NBA Hall of Famers Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson joins Shaq on the show that has been aired for over three decades and is one of the most reputed sports television shows on the planet. The four recently signed new deals with the show, with some of the most lucrative paydays that we have ever seen in sports or any form of television.
It is fair to say that Shaq will earn quite a chunk of money as his yearly salary.
Shaq recently put pen to paper on a deal that will see him continue his role on Turner Television’s “Inside the NBA,” where he has been since 2011, as well as TNT’s newer “NBA TNT on Tuesday” franchise. Although the terms of the exact figure are not known, it has been suggested that O’Neal will earn close to nine figures on his yearly payday with the show.
Few reports suggest that Shaq O’Neal will earn a staggering $10 million a year through his TNT contract.
“I’m happy for ‘The Godfather’ and Kenneth … is there someone else I’m forgetting?” said O’Neal. “I’m kidding … love you, Charles. As long as I say, “Are you not entertained?” and the answer is ‘Yes,’ then we’re going to keep this thing going.”