Shaquille O’Neal takes his role as Santa Claus seriously.

The former NBA star tells PEOPLE he doesn’t accept gifts from anyone when discussing his new commercial for Pepsi Zero Sugar Gingerbread Mini Cans. “I always tell my family, ‘Show me a movie where Santa gets a present and I’ll let you buy me a present,'” the basketball legend explains.

O’Neal and his ex-wife Shaunie O’Neal have four children together: sons Shareef (24) and Shaqir (21) and daughters Amirah (23) and Me’arah (18). The athlete also has a stepson, Myles (27). , from Shaunie’s previous relationship, and a daughter, Taahirah, 28, with his former girlfriend Arnetta Yardbourgh.

“I don’t accept gifts,” the NBA Hall of Famer continues, noting that the selfless act began in 1992 “when (he) became the breadwinner of the family.”

“As long as everyone else is happy, I’m happy,” he adds.

When his children (or anyone!) give O’Neal a gift, he doesn’t even open the gift. “I guess I have a storage unit with 30 years’ worth of gifts, I’ll open it one day,” he says.

Now that his children are older, O’Neal says it’s easier for him to choose the right gifts. “It’s easy because all they want is cash,” he laughs. “But when they were young it was a lot harder. I would have to go to Toys R Us (at) at like 11:58 a.m., right before they close, and then just wipe them out. Many times they didn’t want me to come to Toys R Us early because they didn’t want me to buy all the toys, so I had to come late, right before closing time. They let me take the leftovers.”

O’Neal’s latest partnership is helping him gain even more traction in the holiday season. On Wednesday, December 4, a commercial debuted for Pepsi’s newest limited-time product, Pepsi Zero Sugar Gingerbread Mini Cans, and the basketball icon took center stage.

In the one-minute spot, O’Neal swaps seats for the kitchen during “The Mini Holiday Baking Show”: a parody of a cooking competition that sounds a lot like it The Great British Baking Show with accented voiceover and calm music.

“I’m attempting my most ambitious creation yet,” O’Neal explains, showing a sketch of a soda can and a gingerbread house. “They call me GBOAT, your greatest baker ever.”

O’Neal can’t abandon his athletic nature by blocking competitors from getting to the pantry and shouting competitive claims at them. “I don’t know what you guys are doing over there, but it won’t matter!” he declares as he cracks eggs on his head and blows gummy candies into his mixing bowl.

“Let’s f—— eat it, James,” he tells another baker, before telling everyone to “watch out” and smashing his gingerbread house creation.

Related: Kelly Ripa’s Thanksgiving feast had “a lot of festive arguments,” including Mark Consuelos’ complaints about her cooking

“See what you forgot, smart guy, was the baking powder!” he says, throwing the crushed cookies in the trash and putting Pepsi Zero Sugar Gingerbread in a blender. After a few more lustful glances at James, O’Neal asks, “Do you want to see what perfection looks like?” Come here.”

But when he tries to open the oven door, flames erupt and the alarm goes off. O’Neal gives James a fire extinguisher and runs out of the kitchen. When the fire is fixed and time is up, the basketball player returns and shows the can of soda on a tray.

“Man, it was fun to shoot,” O’Neal tells PEOPLE of his time on set. “I had a lot of fun with the people there and got us in the holiday spirit.” The flavor is a perfect fit for the star, who said he likes gingerbread cookies. Although I’ve never seen it TGBBS, O’Neal watched clips for inspiration.

You won’t find Pepsi Zero Sugar Gingerbread mini cans in your oven – or at the grocery store. Fans can pick up the seasonal flavor from Pepsi’s official TikTok store — but there’s still a little catch. TikTokers will only receive a free Pepsi Zero Sugar Gingerbread Mini Can (while supplies last) when they purchase two 10-packs of Pepsi Mini Cans in a different flavor.

Soda lovers can also visit Pepsi’s official website from now until December 11 to enter the drawing for Pepsi Zero Sugar Gingerbread mini cans.

Read the original article on People