Fattest NBA Players Ever

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Unlike baseball or the NFL, it's hard to get away with being overweight in the NBA. The amount of cardio it takes to withstand the long 82-game season is unlike most other sports. But somehow, these guys were able to make it through the league weighing nearly 400 pounds. With Shaquille O'Neal being considered one of the biggest and most dominant players in the history of the game, his weight and strength made him virtually impossible to guard. Starting off with the Magic in 1992, Shaq almost looked too thin. The then 20-year-old Shaq weighed less than 290 pounds, and he was listed as 7'1. By the time he joined over the Lakers in 1996, it was clear Shaq was putting on weight. Fast forward to his first championship with the Lakers in the 1999-2000 season, Shaq weighed in at 341 pounds, and that was all intentional. Shaq had hired a personal chef during those years, who cooked him unholy amounts of meat and potatoes. Shaq had even developed a theory that size and mass equated to power in the post, and if he wanted to dominate down there, he needed to tack on even more weight. His 2003-2004 season with the Lakers was probably the most oppressive when you consider at the time he'd gained an additional 30 pounds. He was not bordering a sumo wrestler, weighing in at 371 He played 67 games that season and averaged 37 minutes of playtime for every matchup. Most people with that size would have succumbed to injuries, but not Shaq. Despite being the heaviest player in the league that season, his averages remained dominant. 22 points per game, 12 rebounds, and 2 blocks. What's even more impressive was his pre and post game meals, which according to Shaq was Mountain Dew and Red Bull. Before the game, I always wanted to have a turkey club sandwich with extra mayo and 2 pineapple sodas. After the game, when to lose, I got a chicken sandwich and macaroni. His goal gaining weight during his career was a success, but it wasn't without consequences. Even though he played 19 seasons with the league, it's likely that, had he not stacked up so much weight, he would have remained the dominant presence during his final seasons. With Michael Sweetenay having to deal with the death of his father in the preseason, he began stress eating due to his depression, which led to him becoming overweight. While playing at Georgetown University, Sweetenay had a dominating career, where he averaged 22 points per game, 10 rebounds, 3 blocks, and he shot with deadly accuracy, with 54% from the field. Moving on to the Knicks, Sweetenay's father had just passed away before heading out to the team's summer training camp. His father's death affected him so much that he began to cope with his depression by eating. His depression got so bad that he'd even attempt suicide. I remember the night. We were in Cleveland one night, and I just took a bunch of pain pills, hoping it would take me out. But I woke up the next morning thinking, well, it didn't work. That's how bad it was. I didn't like basketball, and I just didn't like life at the time. I went from being a star at Georgetown and having my father at every game to losing him, not even playing in the NBA. I knew I wasn't going to be given a chance as a rookie because my coach told me, hey, I'm not going to play you. I had a lot of things going on that were rough for me to handle. I dug myself into really deep depression, and at that point, I was really scared to tell anybody. His coach didn't lie to him. During his rookie season, he only played 42 games, where he averaged 11 minutes per game. Not surprisingly, his numbers flatlined in comparison to the production he was putting up at Georgetown, although this was likely the least of his problems as he battled with weight and depression. During the height of his weight gain, Sweeney at 6'8, weighed in at 360 pounds. Seeing his weight gain and apparent mental troubles, the Knicks viewed him as a lost cause. They traded them off to the Bulls. His production and minutes improved only slightly with the Bulls, before they took their biggest dive during his fourth and final season in the league, where he averaged eight minutes of playtime with three points and two rebounds per game. After retiring in 2006-2007, Sweeney went on to play international ball for a bit before he called it a quits. He's now a coach of a women's high school team in New York, and he's since gotten past his depression and weight issues. With Eddie Curry coming into the league, already weighing more than the massive veterans, people knew his weight would be an issue. At seven foot and an initial weight of 295 pounds, Eddie Curry was prospected to be an overpowering center during the time that he was drafted in 2001 When the Bulls were up for the fourth pick in the first round, they decided to give the big man a shot when they selected him. Although not completely convinced of his talent, the Bulls used Curry sparingly, and they gave him just a few minutes of playing time as he proved his worth. While his stats did improve a bit throughout his tenure with Chicago, his weight began to increase as well, which wasn't as concerning as a heart problem that had just come up during the height of his time there. The Bulls, who were justifiably concerned with the well-being of their giant, requested he submit a DNA test to see if he had a family history of a serious heart condition. When he refused to cooperate, the Bulls dished him out to the Knicks in 2005 While Curry had respectable numbers in the Knicks, they were nowhere clear to expectations considering his size, and he was highly regarded as a lazy defender and rebounder. As it turns out, Curry was also a lazy eater. While playing with the Knicks, he had 350 pounds, causing his already bad rebounding numbers to take a further dive. The Knicks held on to him for five seasons before getting fed up with the fact that he never came close to the weight they wanted to map, which was 285 Curry had hired a trainer by the off season. He was making significant progress, but it wasn't enough, and he was eventually dealt to the Mavericks. After playing just one game with the Mavs, his contract was brought out, which allowed him to become a free agent, where he eventually signed with the Heat during the 2011-2012 season. That off season, he talked about his weight loss journey, and he said, I worked hard this off season. I got hurt in training camp, but I guess it was a blessing in disguise because I got to get the strength and conditioning staff and medical staff and really get right. I'm feeling good. This is the lightest I've been in a long time. And this would also be the season that the Heat won a championship with the Lebron-led roster. However, Curry had little to do with it since he'd only played 83 minutes that entire season, and he didn't make a single playoff appearance. His next season would be his last, and in 2013, he retired from the league entirely. With Zimboular being more well-known for his weight than his ability to play the game, he eventually turned his life around and began to lose weight and gain muscle, but it might have been too late. Zimboular is a seven foot five center that struggled to find his place in the league. Boulard went undrafted in 2014 to come out of college two years early, but he was able to join up with the Sacramento Kings in the summer league, landing a contract. Boulard was now in the NBA, but because of his very apparent overweight body, he failed to ever stay on the Kings roster for any prolonged period of time. Boulard came into the league at just under 400 pounds. Even though that isn't as bad considering his height, it was very apparent the extra pounds were not doing him any favors. After appearing in just two preseason games, Boulard was weighed by the Kings and sent down to the D-League. He played fairly well. His debut was at the special, but after coming from a record game of 26 points, 17 rebounds, and 11 blocks, the Kings decided to give him another shot. Giving him a 10-day contract, Boulard played in the final seconds of a King's win with the Timberwolves. When his 10-day contract expired, the Kings never re-signed him. Now transferring to the D-League team for the Raptors, Boulard used the help of a nutritionist and trainer to help him drop some pounds. After some months of a strict diet, he joined upwards of 40 pounds, and he was now at 350 pounds with a 14% body fat. Boulard talked about the journey saying, Pretty much everything was set up for me to stay on the right path and do the right things. His stay with the Raptors D-League team only lasted a season, and now he currently plays overseas in China. With Charles Barkley always being known for being a bit overweight, thankfully for him, his frame makes people look past it. Barkley's weight problems date back to when he first joined the Leeds, 76ers in the 1984 draft, but it was no accident. The Sixers had approached Barkley before the draft to have him drop weight. The organization had also informed him that because of their hard cap, they'd only be able to pay him $75,000 for his first year. Uninterested to leave college to only make $75,000 in a year, Barkley intentionally gained weight to avoid being drafted by the team. In an interview, Barkley talked about the eating spree that he went on before the draft, saying, I got to make sure the Sixers don't draft me. So we went on a two-day eating binge, got up in the morning, ate like six pancakes and bacon, washed it down with a vanilla shake. Then we went to lunch. I had like four or five pieces of Kentucky Fried Chicken, some mashed potatoes, coleslaw. Then we went to dinner someplace, I had like a T-bone steak, baked potato. And the next day, we did the same thing. By the time we got to Philly for a weigh-in, Barkley weighed just over 300 pounds with a 6'6 frame. While the team's coaching staff were upset at Barkley, the team decided to pick him fifth in the draft to Barkley's surprise. He talked about the feeling me drafted, stating, if people take a good look at the tape, when they said the number five pick, the 76ers take Charles Barkley, the look on my face is, are you kidding me? I wasn't smiling. After playing alongside his idol, Moses Malone, Barkley was embarrassed to be called a lazy player by his role model. Malone helped Barkley drop to 250 pounds, which ended up becoming his playing weight for the majority of his time in the league. While Glenn Davis' weight being talked about as early as college, his weight carried on in the NBA, and he remained known as the biggest dude on his team. Known to his college teammates as the Funny Fat Kid, Glenn Davis' weight issues didn't seem to affect his successful career at LSU. He averaged 19 points and 10 rebounds per game. While playing at LSU, his weight had nearly reached 340 lbs with a 6'9''s stature. If only light dropping would compliment his game some more, Davis vowed to drop down to 300, what he was able to do after following a strict diet and a daily running regimen. He continued with that weight till his draft in 2007, where the Supersonics picked him up as the 35th pick before quickly trading him off to the Celtics. Despite never becoming an All-Star, Davis was able to make the starting roster while Kendrick Perkins was out with an injury. He performed well during the Celtics Golden Years in the late 2000s. After winning a championship in Boston in his rookie year, Davis went on to finish a nine-year career in the NBA with the Clippers, where he was significantly bigger and slower. Despite losing 50 pounds in college, Davis was never able to keep shedding weight. In an interview about tips he would give to NBA prospect Zion Williamson, Davis talked about the dangers of entering the league overweight, stating, I brought my fifth red ataris on my ankle because I played too big or too fast. The game is changing and he's a naturally big guy, but at the same time, you have to adapt to the game. It's one of the reasons I stopped playing because of my weight. The weight being that big and being so fast and moving so quick, it hurts. With Robert Traylor dealing with weight issues his whole career, his weight actually led to many heart issues along the way. Traylor started his NBA career in 1998 He was drafted sixth in the first round by the Mavericks before instantly being traded to the Bucs. As a six foot eight power forward, Traylor weighed more than 300 pounds on draft day, which proved to haunt his career. After playing his first couple of games with the Bucs, it became clear that he wasn't going to be a star player that many thought he'd become. His weight issues became painstakingly obvious. It was clear that he was having trouble run up and down court for prolonged periods of time. Playing in just 49 games his rookie season, Traylor averaged 5 points a game along with 4 rebounds. After just 2 seasons, the Bucs dealt him over to Cleveland, where he performed the same and he was sent again to the Hornets. After only playing 7 seasons in the NBA, Traylor was forced to retire when he failed a health examination after signing with the New Jersey Nets in 2007 Just after signing with the Nets, Traylor had just finished undergoing a heart surgery to fix an artery in his heart. He then went on to play international ball in Turkey, Italy, and Puerto Rico until his death in 2011, which was caused by a heart attack relating to his weight. While Oliver Miller being so big in college, his teammates often called him nicknames that were clever, but also taking a shot at his weight. Standing at 6'9 and weighing anywhere from 300 to 350 pounds throughout his NBA career, Oliver Miller was picked 22nd by the Phoenix Suns in 1992 While playing college ball, he was given the nickname the Big O, which was when he was at his lightest at 270 pounds. And despite his larger than normal frame, Miller proved to be a standout player at the University of Arkansas, even going as far as to force an overtime game after swatting a young Shaq shot while he played at LSU. Moving on to the NBA, Miller received limited minutes with the Suns, but he still proved to be a worthy bench asset who was capable of overpowering other rebounders with just his sheer weight. Even though his official listing in the NBA was 270, as the season rolled around, Miller ballooned to upwards of 380 pounds. Regardless of his weight, he still had some standout performances. We saw him scoring 35 points, 12 rebounds, 9 assists, 4 blocks, and 3 steals. Despite playing well, as he moved on to other teams and also gaining weight, he was off to trade it because teams didn't want to see his game depreciate. Miller talked about how teams would be concerned of his weight, saying, When I was playing, everyone was making it a big issue, always making me weigh in every single day, saying, you can't eat that. Why are you eating that? Many teams took it as an insult that someone like Miller showed up to his job as an athlete, but had the appearance of a lazy fan. 2001, he went to play with the Harlem Globetrotters before eventually being released for showing no appreciation for what it takes mentally and physically to be a Harlem Globetrotter. And to be fair, by the time he was in his closing season in the NBA, Miller had reached a weight that was clearly unhealthy and borderline unsafe to have him playing for prolonged periods of time in games. In a game against the Warriors, Miller fell after fighting for a loose ball and nearly fell on top of the head of Warrior Center Todd Fuller, which would have likely caused a serious injury. After playing overseas briefly, along with some playing time in the CBA, Miller did one last season in the NBA with the Timberwolves before retiring in 2004 And yo, dog, this video you're seeing on the screen right now is quite literally the greatest video ever made in the history of space and time. It breaks the fourth wall. It travels to other dimensions. It looks good in short shorts. That is this video. You need to click on it, bro.