“Never Came Back Up, Almost Drowned”: 351Lb Shaquille O’Neal Expresses Sorrow on Why He Can’t Ever Scuba Dive

Shaquille O’Neal managed to dominate the NBA using his stature to his advantage. But, at 7ft 1” and 325 lbs there are also a plethora of things that Shaq is unable to do that an ordinary person can do easily. In an interview with Bobbi Althoff, Shaq expresses his desire to skydive and scuba dive and explains why his stature doesn’t allow him to partake in the activities.

Despite being quite overweight during his time in the NBA, Shaquille O’Neal was agile enough to play at the highest level for nearly two decades. During his three-peat stint with the Los Angeles Lakers (from 2000-2002), O’Neal weighed as much as 395 lbs.

Over the years, the Big Aristotle has taken drastic measures to shed some fat. At 51 years old, earlier in the year, the TNT analyst revealed losing as much as 55 pounds. However, the Hall-Of-Famer isn’t satisfied with his weight just yet. As disclosed on The Big Podcast with Shaq, the four-time NBA Champion wants to weigh between the 315lb-330lb mark, as opposed to his current 351lbs.

Shaquille O’Neal nearly drowned while scuba diving

Bobbi Althoff has been the talk of the town for the past few weeks, with her work trending on major social media platforms. The YouTuber went from a relatively unknown comic/content creator to gaining widespread recognition after interviewing Drake, who was apparently an admirer of her content before she went viral. She has sat down for interviews with many well-known celebrities since then.

In fact, Althoff had released a few snippets from her podcast episode featuring Shaquille O’Neal prior to the release of the full video. In one of the teaser reels, Shaq and Bobbi are seen discussing the difficulties that the latter has to face for being too tall or heavy.

The host of The Really Good Podcast asked “Superman” to name the activities that he wanted to do but was restricted from by stature. After being too tall for skydiving, the icon revealed being too heavy for scuba diving.

“Skydive, scuba dive. But I am too heavy because when you scuba dive they give you weights and then when I went down I hit the button, but I never came back up.”

The now-business tycoon then revealed how he saved himself from drowning. Motivating himself by saying “Shaqmu” (a play on the word “Shamu” – a famous killer whale), the three-time Finals MVP wiggled and managed to make it to the top.

“Almost drowned. But then my instincts kicked in… I just said the famous word Shaqmu. Shaqmu, like Shamu. And I just did like that (wiggles) and then I was at the top.”

 

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A post shared by Bobbi Althoff (@bobbialthoff)

Admittedly, it can be a bit hard to believe that some of the anecdotes Shaq narrates are based on true incidents. However, when Althoff questioned him on the same, the $400 million legend vehemently claimed that his stories were not fake.

Shaq nearly weighed 400lbs during the Los Angeles Lakers three-peat

Shaquille O’Neal might’ve been the most dominant force in the NBA, but the alarming rise in his weight didn’t sit well with Kobe Bryant. During the Lakers’ three-peat, O’Neal saw an increase in his weight.

Throwback to Shaq running the floor and dishes it to Kobe for the dunk. 🔥🔥

This duo was so special.

(via @Lakers)

pic.twitter.com/niFmvhaLg7

— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) September 4, 2023

O’Neal weighed 345 lbs and 365 lbs during the 2000 NBA Finals and 2001 NBA Finals, respectively. The following year is when Shaq was at his heaviest. While weighing 395 lbs, O’Neal averaged 36.3 points, 12.3 rebounds, and 2.8 blocks and went on to win the 2002 Finals MVP.