Shaquille O’Neal admits he used to eat fast food and sleep late when he was an NBA star

A lot has been said about the differences between the way traditional basketball used to be played in comparison to the modern sport. Despite many former athletes explaining why the NBA used to be tougher, recent testimonies demonstrate that players nowadays must be even more professional than before to thrive in the league.

Even at the height of his NBA stardom, Shaquille O’Neal’s lifestyle outside of the court was nothing close to that of current athletes. With his size, the legendary big man was the most dominant force in the competition and remained this way for almost two decades.

However, in a recent interview he revealed his unhealthy pregame traditions, including eating fast food all the time and not getting enough sleep before going to work. “I never go to bed early. Since (I was) 18 years old, I’ve never gone to bed before 12 o’clock,” the Hall of Famer said on his own podcast alongside Allen Iverson.

Shaquille O'Neal reveals incredible pregame ritual of staying up until 4am the night prior, eating fries and pineapple soda https://t.co/I4tL4B7HvQ pic.twitter.com/aTuWpZXRNn

— Daily Mail US (@DailyMail) February 27, 2024

“Shaq, we’re playing at 7,” the Sixers icon replied to his remarks, but O’Neal only confessed to more details of his poor lifestyle. He admitted to eating club sandwiches, french fries and pineapple soda after on a regular basis, especially after a morning training session.

He couldn’t help staying up all night. “That’s what I’m saying, you can take a nap. That was my thing, stay out all night, right? Like just 4:00. Get up at 10:00. Go to shootaround, mess around, come back. Two turkey clubs, fries and a pineapple soda, and then I’ll sleep the four hours,” the former star revealed.

Despite his confessions, the Hall of Famer explained why some of his lifestyle choices faced unfair scrutiny. “That’s what I need before the game. Like if I get that three hours before the game, no matter what I did the night before, I’m killing somebody. They always try to make a big deal of him going out,” Shaq claimed.

Iverson then interrupted him to show some support: “It’s only basketball man. I don’t care what time the game is… I’m gon play harder than anybody. Man you owe it to the fans. You owe it to your team. You owe it to God for giving you the talent… I played every game like it was my last.”

The legendary center ended up winning four NBA titles and was selected for 15 All-Star Games and 14 All-NBA teams during his 19-year career.

O’Neal recently gave advice to Jason Kelce and told him not to make the same “dumbass mistakes” he did when he still competed

Shaquille has recently been very outspoken about his biggest regrets, even confessing he should’ve been more grateful to his ex-wife Shaunie back when they were a couple. In last week’s episode of The Big Podcast with Shaq, he advised Jason Kelce not to make the same “dumbass mistakes” he committed when he was a player.

“I made a lot of dumbass mistakes to where I lost my family and didn’t have anyone. I was an idiot … I lost my whole family. I’m in a 100,000-square-foot house by myself,” he told the NFL star on his own show.

The seven-footer explained why he wanted to share these hard-earned lessons, as he clarified the importance of marriage and how he regrets not being emotionally available during his 2002 to 2010 partnership with Shaunie.

“The point I was trying to make is that I want other people to learn from the mistakes that I made. You get married, you make vows and you should be thankful for what you have. Stay with it. I want people, especially those in the public eye, to learn from me,” he shared to the world.