Shaquille O’Neal is a freak of nature – he looks like a man mountain but is the gentlest of them all.
Advertisement
Even during his playing years, Shaquille O’Neal let himself go. Since the closing years with the Lakers, Shaq had a whole lot of Chicken wings, with Barbeque sauce and blue cheese dressing. The dominant force of the NBA was still Superman, albeit portly. Kobe Bryant was putting in long hours in the gym, but Shaq could not care less.
Towards the end of his career, he was so out of shape. A once mountain of a man looked like Zion Williamson in his red tracksuit. Slow, lethargic, and an inconvenience in the lanes. New Yorkers, especially Jerry Seinfeld would use those exact terms to describe a public bus. He looks like he wants to make amends now, because every year he vows to get in shape, and he does.
Muscle Memory will never go away when you were built like a tank, and Shaq is exactly that. Shaq makes weights look like dinner plates and his DJ turntable like large hoops for women’s earrings. In the last 5 years, the big man has been going on a yoyo workout, where he shows the world he can lose everything he gains. For his 50th Birthday, Shaq made a promise he would get his abs back, and boy did he do just that.
Shaquille O’Neal is doing side quests at this point – from being a sheriff to a DJ headlining parties, the man can do it all
When Shaq entered the league, he looked he was on track to be the most dominant center one had seen in ages. While players like Bill Russell and Patrick Ewing had a sense of calm around them, the Big Diesel instilled fear. His first game showed why Orlando went for him – he was unstoppable. He looked exactly how A Black Superman would have looked if the creators ever went that route.
The Big man had a physique of Hercules and the feet of a fencer – he was a Body Builder with the ability to match Hakeem Olajuwon. As the years went by, Shaq’s ego became bigger, so did his waistline. He stopped putting in the effort he once did to keep his body in peak condition. He still was that immovable wall – but now he was slow and was being outpaced by guards.
The Big Daddy may have won 4 rings in his career – but the G.O.A.T debate may have been so much more if he stayed in shape. That man was like Giannis Antetokounmpo now, just much more intimidating. If ifs and buts were coconuts, Shaq would be the Michael Jordan in today’s debates. But it doesn’t matter now, He’s still ultra-famous and an all-around good man.
