While at the Shaquille O’Neal’s BeatBox Appearance at Big Pod event in Las Vegas on Saturday, July 12, the retired NBA star, 53, caught up with PEOPLE to discuss his expanding portfolio.

Most recently, he invested in BeatBox, a company Mark Cuban invested $1 million in on Shark Tank, which was one of the largest deals in the show's history at the time.

Cuban found out about the beverage on reality TV, while the former Los Angeles Laker was aware of the ready-to-drink beverage after seeing it at concerts and his DJ gigs.

“I thought it was Capri Sun, and then I tried. I was like, ‘This is pretty good,’ ” O'Neal exclusively told PEOPLE of the drink.

Reflecting on a call he received from Cuban, 66, about investing in BeatBox, O'Neal said, “I've always learned that in order to be great, you have to have conversations with other great people.”

The basketball legend added that the Shark Tank star is essentially his investment muse. “Whenever Mark is investing in, I'm investing in," he said. "Mark could say, ‘Hey, I got a toilet tissue brand coming out.’ I'm doing it. He's been very successful since he sold [Broadcast.com]."

Still, the Inside the NBA analyst insisted that his involvement in the beverage company isn’t a “money play,” while admitting he doesn’t even know how much he invested.

“My spiel to everyone is being a teammate. I'm going to be the one to help take it to the next level,” he told PEOPLE.

For all his investments, of which there are many, O’Neal indicated that he doesn’t have a “favorite”.

“I'm just fortunate and lucky enough to have good friends and have really smart people around me,” he said. “I've been in business since ’92. Had a lot of failures, had a lot of success. That's just business.

"Every company that I'm with, I definitely have to like the product," O'Neal continued. "I get a lot of opportunities to do business, but if I don’t like your product, I can't take your money and sell something I don’t like to the people. I just can't do it.”