Shaquille O’Neal jokingly tries to convince Dana White to bet $1 million on the Bulls originally appeared in NBC Sports Chicago
Shaquille O’Neal has a questionable plan to quickly make $100 million this upcoming NBA season.
Hall of Fame center wants to make $1 million bet on Chicago buffaloes to win the NBA Finals. But on his podcast, “The Big Podcast with Shaq,” he tried to convince the UFC owner Dana White to join him on the adventure.
“If we bet $1 million on the Chicago Bulls, who have the worst odds ever, [and they] win it, we win $100 million. …I want that damn $100 million! I want the Chicago Bulls,” O’Neal joked.
“Shaq, this is crazy,” White responded. “How about you bet $500 (thousand) and I bet $500 (thousand) and we play f—— Baccarat and actually win?”
O’Neal was not receptive to this strategy either. The big guy prefers to play dice, as he explained on the show. O’Neal also asked White if we could invest $250,000 with him and two other people to get the million. White also denied this.
According to Fanatics Sportsbook, the Bulls’ odds of winning the 2024-25 NBA Finals are +50,000. Therefore, if O’Neal and White continued betting on the Bulls to win the Finals, they would profit $500 million, five times more than O’Neal’s $100 million projection.
But unfortunately, the Bulls’ youth movement will likely prevent them from winning this far into next season’s NBA playoffs. The Bulls recently sent DeMar DeRozan to the Kings through signaling and trade. André Drummond also left free to sign with the 76ers.
Restructuring their roster, the Bulls negotiated Alex Caruso for Josh Giddey (21), drafted Matas Buzelis (19), signed big man Jalen Smith (24) and re-signed Patrick Williams (22) to pair with White Coby (24), Ayo Dosunmu (24), Julian Phillips (20) and Dalen Terry (22).
The youth movement and retooling are evident. It’s a roster upgrade, which means the Bulls likely won’t be a competitive team next season.
