“Nobody Was Trying To Save 365lb Shaquille O’Neal”: Lakers Legend Couldn’t Believe His Teammates Let Him Fall Without Any Help

At 7-foot-1 and weighing more than 325 pounds for the majority of his career, Shaquille O’Neal has one of the largest frames in NBA history. Using this abysmal size to his advantage, Shaq would assert his dominance on any given night. While defenders do not have any option other than facing the wrath of the huge man, the fans and others in the stands had an option. And when the time came, they were smart enough to save themselves whenever the Big Aristotle dove to into the stands.

Despite being one of the heaviest players the league has ever seen, the Diesel was pretty effective on both sides of the floor. While the Hall-Of-Famer was more agile and lean during his initial years in the league, being overweight in the latter stages of his career didn’t slow him down.

In fact, after weighing 345 pounds and 365 pounds during the first two championships with the Los Angeles Lakers, the former LSU Tiger weighed almost 400 pounds during the final year of the three-peat. In those very 2002 Finals, the big man recorded 28.5 points and 12.6 rebounds to win the Finals MVP.

NBA player dive into the crowd vs Shaquille O’Neal

Recently, the TNT analyst posted a reel on his Instagram story. With the video captioned “NBA player dive into the crowd vs Shaquille O’Neal”, the clip showed players of the likes of Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, Blake Griffin, and Glen Davis jumping into the stands to keep the ball alive. Later, the clip went on to show how the fans and his own teammates would clear the bench in fear when O’Neal was about to jump onto them.

Nobody was trying to help up 365lb Shaq when he was diving onto benches lol pic.twitter.com/CUXpTiQ5Q9

— tragicpatek (@tragicpatek) May 21, 2023

Of course, fans would react differently when lighter players were jumping to save the ball and when Shaq was going to jump. The chances of sustaining an injury while helping a lighter person break their fall are lesser.

Over the span of a 19-year-long career, the 2-time scoring champ dove into the stands numerous times. However, this one time during his stint with the Phoenix Suns, Shaq smartly jumped into the crowd while preventing two kids from getting hurt.

 

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Shaq’s weight loss journey

After entering the league weighing around the 300-pound mark, Shaq would go on to weigh as much as 395 pounds during the latter part of his playing days.

During the pandemic, Shaq revealed that he was in the worst shape of his life. After weighing as much as 400 pounds, the NBA legend would go on to lose a considerable amount of weight. Having disclosed his new aim of reaching 350 pounds, the icon disclosed on the Big Podcast that he was merely 15 pounds away from achieving his goal.

Time and again, Shaq even posts shirtless photos and videos of himself, flexing his 6 pack abs.

 

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With this physique, Shaq could still be a force to reckon with on the hardwood at 51 years of age.