Shaquille O’Neal deepens Las Vegas ties with home purchase
Shaquille O’Neal, after opening a chicken sandwich shop near the Strip, has bought a house in Las Vegas, records indicate.
The 7-foot-1-inch basketball Hall of Famer, known for his powerful dunks, lousy free throws and even worse movies, purchased a home in the Southern Highlands community, at the southern tip of the valley, early this year before the coronavirus pandemic upended daily life across the U.S., property records indicate.
The $765,000 sale closed Feb. 19.
Built in 2006, the property, near the intersection of Southern Highlands Parkway and Valley View Boulevard, has a swim-up bar, upgraded countertops and renovated cabinets, according to listing site Zillow.
The two-story house also features a basement, rare for Las Vegas. Including the below-ground space, the home spans 5,440 square feet, Clark County records show.
Efforts to speak with O’Neal were unsuccessful.
The 48-year-old retired hoops star was a first overall NBA draft pick and spent nearly 20 years in the league, racking up numerous awards, All-Star Game selections and other accolades. He was inducted into the basketball Hall of Fame in 2016.
O’Neal has also appeared in several movies over the years. His resume includes the 1996 genie flick “Kazaam,” which, according to a Phoenix Film Festival recap of Shaq’s five worst films, was “just not a good movie on any level,” and the 1997 box-office bomb “Steel,” which the festival deemed “probably the worst superhero movie ever made.”
More recently, Shaq and partners opened the Big Chicken sandwich shop at 4480 Paradise Road, just east of the Strip, in fall 2018.
Its menu includes the Shaq Attack sandwich (featuring pepper jack cheese, jalapeño slaw and spicy chipotle barbecue sauce) and the Shaq Diesel milkshake (made with Oreo cookies and hormone-free milk from California).
Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342. Follow @eli_segall on Twitter.