The Heat infamously expect every player to maintain a sub-10 body fat percentage. It’s one of the rules that franchise president Pat Riley put in place to ensure the team is among the fittest in the NBA. However, Shaquille O’Neal wasn’t a fan of the directive and resorted to extreme measures to avoid the team’s body fat checkups.
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During an appearance on the Forgotten Seasons podcast, former Heat star Antoine Walker detailed the Heat’s extensive tests to check if their players adhered to the body fat rule and O’Neal’s ingenious tactics to beat them. He said,
“One thing I loved about Pat Riley is the body fat and weight tests, you got to make your weight every Monday… I remember Shaq used to put baby oil on so the things wouldn’t stick on him.”
Walker revealed that the Heat didn’t expect players to come into training camp in top shape. Instead, they allowed players to work during camp and meet the requirements. He said,
“I just locked in because I had 30 days. When I came in the camp he was like I need you to get between 8 and 10% body fat. You gotta weigh 250. You just worked on it, they give you 30 days to get started.”
While Walker and the rest of the team had no issues adhering to Riley’s rule, O’Neal candidly admitted that he had no desire to follow it.
Shaq humiliated Alonzo Mourning to prove Riley’s body fat rule was pointless
In his book ‘Shaq Uncut,’ the four-time NBA champion detailed how rigorous Riley’s expectations were and how much he disliked them. He wrote,
“I didn’t have time to do anything but work out all day long because Pat was all hung up on this body fat program. He was very serious about it. He expected all the guards to have 6 percent body fat, the forwards to have 7 to 8 percent body fat, and the centers to have 10 percent body fat. It made no sense to me.”
O’Neal ensured that he let Riley know how little he cared for his body fat rule by humiliating teammate and Heat icon Alonzo Mourning and proving that it wasn’t an indicator of ability. He wrote,
“I mean, look at Alonzo Mourning. He is a machine. Really. I wouldn’t be surprised if we found out he was a robot. The guy was always in amazing shape. He always looked ten times better than me, but I used to kill him on the court, which tells you that body fat don’t mean shit.”
O’Neal’s mentality didn’t suit the Heat. However, that had no repercussions on his impact. He finished second in MVP voting in his first season with the franchise and played a critical role in their title-winning run in the subsequent season.
