The official numbers

The 1992 NBA Pre-Draft Camp measured Shaq at 7’1″ barefoot, 7’2¼” in shoes, with a 9’7″ standing reach and a 327 lb listed weight at age 20. By the time he won his first MVP with the Lakers in 1999–2000, he was officially listed at 7’1″, 315 lbs — though L.A. trainers privately put his playing weight at closer to 340.

Shaq himself has joked that he’s actually “7’2″ or maybe 7’3″” — the NBA height-measurement tradition lists most players slightly shorter than they actually stand. Either way, Shaq is one of the largest centers ever to win a Finals MVP.

How he compares to other big men

Shaq’s listed 7’1″ puts him in the same range as Wilt Chamberlain (7’1″) and David Robinson (7’1″). He is shorter than Manute Bol (7’7″), Gheorghe Mureșan (7’7″), Yao Ming (7’6″), and Boban Marjanović (7’4″), but his combined height + weight gave him more functional mass than any of those.

Shaq’s career playing weight of 325 lbs is the heaviest of any Finals MVP. The next heaviest All-NBA centers — Robinson (250 lbs), Hakeem (255), Kareem (267) — were all 60+ pounds lighter.

The shoe size, the wingspan, the rest

Shaq’s shoe size is famously a U.S. men’s 22 (his current line at Walmart is sold up to size 22). His wingspan was measured at 7’7″ at the 1992 combine — so a six-inch reach advantage over his standing height. His standing reach of 9’7″ meant he could touch the rim flat-footed.

He did not actually go from 6’6″ as a high schooler to 7’1″ as a college freshman, despite a popular myth. He arrived at Robert G. Cole High School in San Antonio at 6’10” as a junior and was 7′ as a senior — Robert Cole’s gym still has his Class of ’89 photo.

Background facts cross-referenced with the Wikipedia article on Shaquille O'Neal and Pro-Football-Reference / Basketball-Reference public records. Lead image via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0).