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Did Shaq Wear Payless Basketball Shoes when he played in the NBA?

Shaquille O’Neal played basketball in the NBA for 19 seasons, won 4 championships and is a Hall of Famer. Shaq had numerous endorsement deals including shoes. He signed a shoe contract in the early 90s with Reebook and would later create a shoe called the Dunkman tailored for kids that families could afford to purchase.

Did Shaq wear payless basketball shoes when he played in the NBA? Yes, Shaquille O’Neal wore his signature shoe he created in many NBA games. The shoes in question were designed for families that could not afford the high priced shoes on the market. Instead, the Shaq Dunkman shoe was created with a price point of $39.99 and lower at the Payless Shoe store. Shaq wore these shoes when he was a Laker and continued throughout the rest of his NBA career.

Shaquille O’Neal’s shoes continued to sell and were later picked up by Walmart and other retail stores. Shaq gave up millions not to sign with a shoe company after his contract was up with Reebok and played around with different shoe ideas that he later wore in the NBA.

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Shaquille O’Neal Shoes

Basketball shoes in the 1980s and ’90s were becoming must-have and saught after by kids, basketball players, and even celebrities. The price range for basketball shoes were 100 dollars and up for the more popular shoes on the market seen by the superstar basketball players in the league and endorsed by sneaker companies in a billion-dollar industry.

In his rookie year, Shaquille O’Neal signed a shoe deal with Reebok in 1992 worth 15 million dollars for 5 years. Shaquille built up his own shoe line called the Shaq Reebok attack line. Shaq Attack 1 through 4 shoes were released during the 90s.

During Shaquille’s almost 20 years in the NBA, he wore many shoes besides Reebok, including his own signature shoe he created for kids. It makes absolute sense to play in the shoes he is promoting. He has to believe in his product or else no one else will.

But before he dived into his own line of shoes, Shaq teamed up with a group of guys from Dunk.net who had their own thing going. Shaq had hoped this would be the next big up and coming shoe even wearing it in games playing for the Lakers.

I noticed that with basketball shoes in general, people tend to gravitate to shoes that are endorsed by guards more so than the big men. I think Shaq saw that the AND 1 brand was taking off and it was possible to get a piece of the pie in the billion-dollar industry.

What motivated O’Neal to create budget-friendly Shaq shoes?

Shaq remembers how got into the affordable basketball shoe business. After a basketball game, he had an altercation with a mother. Every kid wanted the latest and best shoes on the market, but it usually came at a steep price of $ 200 dollars or more for the basketball shoe.

 

“A lady cursed me out one day at the arena. I reached in my pocket to give her $1,000 and she smacked it out of my hand,” Shaq reminisced. “She said, ‘Why doesn’t anyone try to make affordable shoes?’”

~SHAQ~

That is how he got into the basketball shoe business that was affordable for families to buy for the kids without breaking the bank. At the time Shaq was playing for the Los Angelas Lakers when he started the business in 2004.

We all know when kids wear shoes they don’t take care of them and need another pair in less than 6 months. The Dunkman shoe was built really solid and tough, they are a heavy shoe. For kids this is excellent, kids don’t care about how heavy or light a shoe is when they are outside playing. They just want something that looks good and is popular among the other kids on the playground.

The shoes were no more than $39.99, while Shaq is fully aware grown-ups laugh at his shoes but he counters that he has sold way over the 120 million pairs of shoes on the market.

 

Shaq Dunkman Logo

Shaq’s Dunkman Logo is seen on all of his shoes, he even has a statue in Los Angeles at staples arena that looks exactly like a life-size version of the logo. Shaq was known in his career to break backboards, dunk on people, and win championships. Notice how Jordan has the Jumpman Logo and Shaq’s is the Dunkman Logo.

It’s worth mentioning Shaq’s logo has been seen on his Reebok shoes, in fact, it is his signature logo and would make sense to have it on his shoe, this was before the creation of the Dunkman Shoe that he would create years later. The shoe that had the logo was the Shaq Attack 4 on the tongue of the shoe.

 

Shaq Dunkman Knockoff Shoes that Looked Like Jordans

O’Neal shoe business is a strange one, though he has sold 120 million units of his shoes in Walmart and other retail stores, Some of the different designed shoes are a borderline knockoff to the Jordan brand. Surprisingly, it is intentionally done this way.

“Kids don’t want to wear sneakers that cost $30 because they look like sneakers that cost $30,” he said. “I told my guys, ‘Don’t embarrass a kid when he goes to school. Make it look as close to the $100 shoe as possible.’

~SHAQ~

I get what Shaq was trying to do here, but I also think he could have created something different with his shoe. As kids, we always wanted Nike, Reebok, and Adidas. My first pair of Nike basketball shoes wasn’t until I was 12. I remember how the shoes made me feel. But if we couldn’t get these high-priced shoes I am sure I would have been ok with a Shaq shoe.

Working in the school system, I ask kids and teenagers all the time, do you know what Jordan’s you got on? They have no clue. Those are the Jordan 11’s, they shrug their shoulders, and walk away. So it is possible kids might have no clue that someone is wearing a shoe by Shaq while thinking its a Jordan shoe.

Stephon Marbury – Starbury

Shaq wasn’t the only player to make a basketball shoe that was affordable, soon after while Stephon Marbury was playing in the Chinese Basketball Association in China, he launched a line in September 2006 called the Starbury. The pair of shoes cost $14.98, while Marbury claims they are of the same level of quality as more expensive alternative shoes on the market at the time.

These shoes were first sold at Steve’s and Barry’s retail store. Like Shaq, the Starbury sold millions of pairs of shoes, to families that could afford them. For $14.98 why wouldn’t I pick up a pair for work purposes. I like my Kobe shoes for basketball.

Marbury has gone on record and said that the same shoe companies that make your $200 shoes, cost them $5 to make.

Shaquille O’Neal Sketcher line has arrived

In 2019 Shaq had recently teamed up with sketchers and released a shoe line of their own while doing away with the knockoff looking shoes of the more popular and expensive Jordan shoes. Some of the shoes the Dunkman has for Sketchers are actually pretty nice. But they are a little more pricy than the $39.99, nowadays it’s becoming harder to get a nice affordable shoe on the market.

I am wondering if Shaquille got into some muddy waters with his shoe line due to the knockoff looking shoes, as the old shoe was not sold on the market for some time. Upon my research, this may not have been the case, but maybe shoe sales were just down.