Busted: what do athletes blow millions of dollars on?

I looked for happiness in material things: a car makes you happy for a week. I bought three to be happy for three weeks” – Kevin-Prince Boateng.

Recently, once one of the most promising footballers in the world, and now the player of Fiorentina Kevin-Prince Boateng in an interview with the Italian edition of La Repubblica said that as a player of Tottenham, once bought three cars in one day. He bought himself a Lamborghini, Hummer and Cadillac.
But the footballer is by no means alone in the ability to throw money around. Some athletes have such a large income that they can buy almost anything they want, and sometimes make truly crazy spending. We’ve gathered a few more stories of athletes shocking everyone with their purchases.

Shaquille O’Neal: 3 Bentleys at a time and barrels of cash

Four-time NBA champion and one of the most popular basketball players in the world, Shaquille O’Neal has earned about $292 million in his career (not counting advertising contracts, business and other income). In his best years, he earned more than $20 million per season. Not surprisingly, at one point Shaq had nowhere to put his savings and began to splurge. In his autobiography, the former basketball player revealed that he once bought three Bentleys at a time and how he kept the money in barrels.

“I bought my first Bentley by accident. One day after training – in flip-flops, tracksuit, all sweaty – I drove by the salon and decided to look there. I looked at the cars, picked out a beautiful Bentley and asked: “How much is it worth?”. The old salesman, a classic-looking white guy, looked at me skeptically and said, “Boy, are you sure you can afford a car like that?”. That pissed me off. I actually took offense. As I was standing there, I suddenly heard a familiar voice: I turn around and I see Mike Tyson. He’s buying a Bentley, too. He’s got two of them. Since he got two, you realize what I did, right? I couldn’t help but buy three. I can’t remember how much they cost, but I think each one cost me $200,000. I spent $600,000 on cars I couldn’t even get into. I had to pay to have the seat pulled back. And, of course, it was a total nightmare trying to sell them after I got tired of them. That happened about a year later.”

“When I started living in Orlando, I invested in car washes where you could wash your car yourself by dropping a couple coins. The business was doing well, we were making a lot of money, but one day I got a call from my manager saying the accounting didn’t add up. The amounts in the bank didn’t match the income we were getting. “Relax, Lester,” I reassured him, but he panicked anyway. He even flew to Orlando to discuss the situation with me. He estimated that he was almost a quarter of a million dollars short. It took me a while, but I finally confessed everything to him. I showed Lester my bedroom, which is where the wooden barrels filled with quarters stood. Lester said:

– Shaquille, what the fuck is this? Is this the money that’s missing?
– Yeah,” I admitted. – Lester, I can’t help it. I like to see my money. Come here, put your hands in the barrels. It’s an incredible feeling!

Lester called the bank and said he needed to deposit $250,000 in quarters. It took weeks to get it done because they didn’t have enough machines to count the coins.”

And Shaq also spent $70k in one night at a Walmart store in 2008. After being traded from the Miami Heat to the Phoenix Suns, he arrived at a new, completely empty apartment in Phoenix. Shaq had to purchase everything he needed to live in his new place. The check was so large that American Express thought the basketball player’s credit card had been stolen.

Sneakerhead Jarrett Jack.

Basketball player Jarrett Jack has earned over $47 million during his NBA career. He loves sneakers and is perhaps the ultimate snickerhead among NBA players. In 2013, it was reported that he has over 1,500 pairs in his collection, for which Jarrett paid over $375k in total! It’s scary to imagine how many models the player has accumulated by today. Such an incredible amount of shoes will not fit neither in the closet, nor in the hallway, so Jarrett allocated a separate room for his sneakers. This is true love!