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Shaquille O’Neal And Calvin Lane: Despite Being 0.000038% Of The Population, 7’1 Lakers Legend Couldn’t ‘Compete’ With The American Model

Samir Mehdi
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Shaquille O’Neal And Calvin Lane: Despite Being 0.000038% Of The Population, 7’1 Lakers Legend Couldn’t ‘Compete’ With The American Model

Shaquille O’Neal is by no means an averaged sized person. He’s a mountain of a man and comes in the 0.000038% of the human population as he’s over 7 feet tall. Not only is ‘The Big Aristotle’ an extremely tall individual, but he also weighs the part as well. He’s fluctuated his weight between 325lbs to 385lbs, with the latter being around his heaviest for the time as he admitted to weighing this much towards the end of his 3rd championship with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Even by NBA standards, Shaq is taller than most players who have played in the league. Noticeable differences in height between him and another player happened guys like Yao Ming or Manute Bol were brought to the fore.

It’s egregiously difficult to make O’Neal look like anything less than a giant. It does however, happen on occasion. When it does, it’s understandable that it was another NBA player who made him feel that way. In this particular instance however, it wasn’t an athlete. Just an ‘ordinary’ man.

Shaquille O’Neal stands next to Calvin Lane

Calvin Lane is an American model and actor. He starred in films like ‘Ghostbite’, ‘Going to California’, and ‘One Less Tear’. What makes Lane so special is the fact that he’s not only taller than Shaquille O’Neal, but he’s significantly taller than him.

While O’Neal stands at 7’1, Lane is at an enormous 7’6. The Los Angeles Lakers made a living off of using his height to dominate down low in the paint all while Lane used it for ordinary tasks and living his own life the way he wanted to.

The two giants would link up early in Shaq’s career in the NBA and would go on to take a picture with one another as well, leading to the resurfacing of the image causing an NBA Twitter frenzy as they had never seen Shaq looking ‘dwarfed’ in front of another man like that.

Shaquille O’Neal felt the same way when standing next to Yao Ming

One of the more iconic pictures on the internet is the picture that Shaquille O’Neal, Kevin Hart, and Yao Ming took with one another. Kevin Hart, who is listed at 5’5 but realistically is closer to 5’3 perhaps, looked miniscule next to Shaq and Yao.

Yao, the Chinese basketball legend, stands anywhere between 7’5 and 7’6 and towered over the 4x NBA champion. In the 18 games they played against one another including both the regular season and the Playoffs, Shaq holds a 10-8 record over him.

About the author

Samir Mehdi

Samir Mehdi

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Samir Mehdi is a senior strategist for the NBA division at The Sportsrush. Ever since he was 13 years old, he’s been obsessed with the game of basketball. From watching Kobe Bryant’s highlights on YouTube to now, analyzing and breaking down every single game on League Pass, Samir’s passion for the game is unwavering. He's a complete basketball junkie who not only breaks down current games but also keenly watches ones from the 60s’ and 70s’ while also reading comprehensive books on the history of the league. Samir’s life revolves around basketball and he hopes that shows in his work. Aside from work, he loves to spend time in the gym and with his friends at social gatherings.

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