Victor Wembanyama and Chet Holmgren have very bright futures in the NBA, but they both can be quite thankful for the fact that they won’t have to play against Shaquille O’Neal, who weighed almost as much as both of them combined.
While you might think there was no way Shaq weighed 385 lbs during his career, he actually went even higher. A few years ago, O’Neal revealed he weighed 395 pounds when he won his third championship.
I can only imagine how ugly it would have gotten had either of Wembanyama and Holmgren had to guard him. At his peak, O’Neal dominated every other big in the league, and the NBA had more than its fair share of great ones at the time.
They had no answer for Shaq, except for hacking him, and these two would have had to resort to the same tactic. Perhaps Wembanyama at 7’4″ might have been able to block some shots, but that’s about it.
Shaquille O’Neal Thinks Victor Wembanyama Would Have Been Destroyed In The 1990s
Wembanyama has been hailed as a generational prospect, and for good reason, as a man his size isn’t supposed to be able to do the things he does. NBA fans were left stunned by highlights from his game against the Miami Heat, and he is unquestionably the real deal.
The one area of concern with him, though, is his skinny frame, and because of that. O’Neal thinks Wembanyama would have gotten destroyed in the 1990s.
“I think people better watch out, but if this was our era, bang him, he’d be chicken noodle soup, which I kind of like.”
We hear former players say this about a lot of the current ones, and while it can be baseless at times, this isn’t one such instance. Wembanyama’s body wouldn’t have been able to deal with physical bigs who would keep pounding him on the block.
He would still be capable of being a force on the offensive end, but his body would eventually break down because of the beating it would have taken on defense. With today’s NBA being a lot more about skill than physicality, though, O’Neal thinks Wembanyama is going to be just fine.
The Frenchman is also predominantly going to play as the power forward for the San Antonio Spurs, which puts even less of a strain on his skinny frame.
Shaquille O’Neal Is Slimming Down Now
Post-retirement, Shaq didn’t do a great job in terms of keeping his weight in check, even hitting the 400-pound mark at one point. That was far from ideal, but things have changed now. O’Neal looked incredibly slim in a recent picture, and he has some goals in mind as far as his weight goes.
The 51-year-old told Entertainment Daily back in August that he is down to 351 pounds, and his goal is to get between 315 and 330. He had dropped 55 pounds then and the way he is going at the moment, I don’t think it’s going to take him too long to achieve his goal.
Keeping that weight down will also help him be healthier as he gets older, which is the most important thing. Shaq revealed he was having trouble walking up the stairs at one point, and it took that to make him realize it was time for change.
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