“I like being big, I'm the NBA's best NFL player" – Shaquille O’Neal had a unique response to people saying he was overweight while playing for the Lakers

Shaquille O'Neal was an unstoppable force, bullying his way inside the paint against any defender. Standing 7-foot-1 and over 300 pounds, guarding and stopping the "Big Aristotle" one-on-one was nearly impossible.

Although his size was an advantage, there was a significant concern that Shaq needed to be more cautious about his playing weight. Back in 2001, it was a topic of discussion, especially after "The Diesel" revealed he was planning to trim down to 290 pounds.

Shaq admitted that he gave it a lot of thought, aware that he would have to burn calories and control what he ate. But to everyone's surprise, the 1992 Draft reneged on that, opting to raise his weight to 335 pounds.

O'Neal explained that he had a change of heart after getting leaner. That decision drew a lot of flak although the LSU product, especially considering he had just come off minor toe surgery that year.

"I like being big. I'm the NBA's best NFL player. I got a football body, baby," O'Neal said at the time via the New York Times . "People can focus on my weight if they want, but I've been eating a lot of chicken and fish," the Lakers center added.

Shaq's bad gamble

Despite his weight issues, O'Neal and the Lakers had already won two consecutive titles in 2001. But with Shaq then approaching 30 years old, concern grew about the 2000 NBA MVP's added weight. The added load would tell heavily on his toe problems, something that bothered and kept him out of games in the early 2000s.

O'Neal managed to play through it. He was still able to help the Lakers win their third-straight title in 2002. But come the 2002-03 season, Shaq was struggling, and LA paid for it dearly. They failed to reach the NBA Finals. The Lakers made it to the final in the following season, but the Purple and Gold lost to the Detroit Pistons in five games.

Had Shaq been more conscious about his health, pundits felt that the Lakers could have won more titles during that stretch. Kobe Bryant was aware of this, stressing how it would have been impossible to get more titles with O'Neal missing games due to injury.

"I think the reality is that the health issues would've really prohibited us from having that kind of huge run….his health was already affecting us in those last two seasons," Bryant said on The HoopsHype podcast .

With his enormous size during his prime, O'Neal was unstoppable. However, all that meant nothing if the 15-time All-Star could not help his team during games.

However, all that changed in 2004 when “The Big Aristotle” was shipped to the Miami Heat. With Pat Riley setting a strict standard on body fat rules, O’Neal had to adhere to that requirement or be fined for failing to meet that requirement. He even opened a 24-hour gym in Miami to get in shape and be at the top of his game during his time with the Heat.

O’Neal worked out and did the best he could. He trimmed down his body fat to 13%, which was still 3% over the standard set for centers by Riles. It remains unclear if Shaq was fined for failing to meet that mark. Regardless, losing weight helped O’Neal to stay efficient. He still put up huge numbers and was pretty hard to stop. He won his fourth and last NBA title in 2006 although his availability during games started to dip.

He spent four seasons with the Heat before joining other teams like the Phoenix Suns, Cleveland Cavaliers and the Boston Celtics. However, he missed a lot of games and his performance noticeably dipped.

With O’Neal struggling to stay healthy, he came to the realization that perhaps it was time to call it a career. He did just that on June, 2011 capping an incredible 19-year pro basketball career.

Related: “I don’t need to workout for these bums anyway” — Shaquille O'Neal responds to all the criticism about his work ethic and dedication