NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal is one of the most loved and recognizable personalities even since his NBA days. And even after a decade of retiring from the sport, he remains in the headlines. Shaq can be seen DJ’ing, and attending parties, charity events, and other media events every now and then. The four-time NBA champion has been quite vocal on his podcast, ‘The Big Podcast with Shaq.’

O’Neal is seen talking about what is going on in the NBA world on ‘NBA On TNT’. With being so beloved by his fans, Shaq’s podcast is quite popular and so are his opinions on things.

Shaquille O’Neal gives his opinions on Harden

Recently, on the podcast, O’Neal talked about James Harden and his significant weight loss this offseason. Harden told the media that he lost over 100 pounds during the summer. When asked how Harden accomplished this amazing feat, he said by proper rest and diet.

Fans around the league were shocked to see Harden’s transformation. And not just fans but ex-NBA players as well. One of them being Shaquille O’Neal. While talking to Nischelle Turner, she asked O’Neal about his thoughts on James Harden’s weight loss.

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Turner seemed impressed by Harden’s drastic weight loss, saying that she saw muscles on James Harden and she had never seen muscles on Harden. And after hearing that, O’Neal just went off.

He went on to say, ”first of all those are not muscles, cut it out. He just got skinny.” The Big Aristotle did not seem impressed by Harden’s transformation this off-season. He added, “I would like to see him get back to the level of play.”

During his playing days, O’Neals’s body fat percentage even managed to shock fitness and movie star, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Shaq and Arnold have been friends for quite some time. And when Schwarzenegger saw the swiftness and agility that O’Neal possessed despite his height and weight, he was taken aback.

Shaq with a throwback reply

The fact that a 7’1 guy, who weighed more than 300 pounds, could move up and down the court with such speed did surprise Schwarzenegger. 

Coming back to Harden, Turner mentioned that there were times when Harden did not seem motivated enough to play. To this Shaq said, “in this era that basketball players are living in, your extracurricular activities are seen much more.”

Shaq gave a throwback answer about how he invented hanging out with rappers but when it came time to deliver, he always did. “Every time I stepped on the court, I had 28, 30, 40, 50, 60, and I still won championships, so if he’s going to do all that, his play has to be extraordinary.”

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Harden has been in the league for 13 seasons. He has won the sixth man of the year award and one MVP award but is still to win an NBA championship.