Shaquille O’Neal apparently liked jewelry during his youth. He liked them so much that he once bought a pair of $60,000 earrings, as he recalled to Sports Illustrated’s Jack McCallum. However, he didn’t like them enough to pay attention to where he put them immediately upon leaving the store.

“I spent so much in jewelry. Not classy jewelry. Truck jewelry. Ghetto-rapper jewelry. I got the diamond chains, the diamond necklaces. I went to a jewelry store one day and bought a pair of earrings for $60,000. And I lost the earrings going from the jewelry store to the car. I went back to the store, and the guy said I walked out with the bag. After that I said I'm never buying crazy jewelry again.”

Stories like Shaq’s earring fiasco aren’t new in NBA circles. That’s what happens when teenage basketball players are handed millions upon millions of dollars with minimal supervision.

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Thankfully for Shaq, he learned his lesson and decided against spending his money on that type of extravagant jewelry. He’s still finding lavish ways to spend his fortune, though, as evidenced by the million-dollar birthday party he threw for his daughter.

That seems excessive, but it's still a better use of money than spending $60,000 on earrings he never even got to wear.