15 of the Fattest NBA Players of All-Time

Exercise? I thought you said ‘Extra Fries’.

It’s NBA off season. Most guys are out in the Summer League, on vacation or hitting the links. But over the years, there’s been a few guys who found themselves spending their off season buffet-ing, not balling.

These guys are fat. Let’s not sugar coat it, because if we did, they’d eat that, too. Just one look at these dudes in high school and you’d say they’d had a fat chance of making the big leagues, but somehow, they overcome the overweight. So to celebrate their defiance, here’s 15 make that 18 (even our numbers blew out) of the biggest boys to ever hit the NBA hardwood.

Shaquille O’Neal

Shaq wasn’t always heavy. Wait, let me rephrase that: Shaq wasn’t always chunky. In his days in Orlando, he was a lean, mean and athletic. But it seems like the good life in LA got to him. It also didn’t help moving to Ohio and ‎Massachusetts — where it’s always cold — so it’s human nature to put on a few extra kilos to stay warm. But this was more than a few.

Sim Bhullar

Sim “Slim” Bhullar is anything but. A literal giant a 7’5” and 360 lbs, he’s one of the biggest players to ever play the game. And we don’t just mean tallest. The big Indian was picked up by the Sacramento Kings after the draft. but was waived soon after, then signed on a 10-day contract, where he played just 3 minutes over 3 games . He’s now playing pro league in Taiwan. I bet the locals have never seen anyone eat like he does.

Brian Scalabrine

Yes we know. How dare we include the White Mamba in this list. But we don’t play favorites here at House of Heat. But we can’t think of any other player in NBA history who’s continually looked like an out of shape, 40 year-old rec-league player in every single season of his 12 year professional career.

Jahidi White

Jahidi White’s professional career was about as successful as acting career was. In a career plagued by injuries, he still managed to wrangle up a seven-year stint in the big dance. At 6’9″ and almost 300 pounds, he had the potential to be a monster on the court. But the closest he got to monstrosity was being cast as an alien creature on the Sci Fi Channel’s TV Movie Showdown at Area 51.

Charles Barkley

Ol’ Chuck has stacked it on in retirement. But for the majority of his playing days, he was in relatively good shape. It was only towards the end of his NBA tenure that Sir Charles slowed down — and so did his metabolism.

To this day, the 1993 NBA MVP still gets roasted about his weight, mostly from fellow Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal. Chuck had a brief stint with Weight Watchers, which worked for a while, but since then he’s fallen off the wagon and onto a food truck.

Plus, who could forget the legendary story of Sir Charles smashing down pizza and burgers like there was no tomorrow, in order to avoid being drafted by the 76ers. It obviously didn’t work. Nice try though, Chuck.

Eddy Curry

Eddy was not so shreddy, and it was probably the reason his career was a bust. The Bulls had high hopes the one they called “Baby Shaq”, but the 4th overall draft pick never quite lived up to expectations. And O’Neal made it clear that he wasn’t happy about the comparison by saying: “I was a little big but I was still putting up historical numbers. If he wants to get that next contract he’s going to have to go to the New York Athletic Club three times a day and just ride the bike.”

Ray Felton

Razor Ray Felton is only 6’1”, so when you put on a little extra weight, there’s not really anywhere to hide it. He’s only listed at 200 pounds, but he’s definitely not the most athletic point guard in the NBA.

A photo floated around the Internet in 2012 showing sever Felton flab during a basketball camp which really kicked Ray into action. He’s since trimmed down and looks a million dollars.

There’s nothing more motivating than receiving the full wrath of internet ridicule.

Stanley Roberts

According to some, Stan could have been the man. He had the potential to be one of the best centers in the game. Even Sports Illustrated compared him to fellow LSU player Shaquille O’Neal (later on, they also compared him to Fat Albert). Of course, like a lot of guys in this list, their potential gets weighed down by excess weight.

He was notoriously known for being out of shape, weighing as much as 345 lbs. This lead to a long list of injuries during his 9 years in the NBA. Not only did Stanley miss games through injury, he was also banned for violating the league’s drug policy. He smoked weed throughout his time in the NBA. This is probably the first time that the munchies ruined a career.

Michael Sweetney

Michael Sweetney spent just four years in the NBA, making him another first round bust. He was drafted 9th overall out of Georgetown, where he averaged a very solid 18.2 points per game, Sweetney was listed at 275 lbs. during his playing days, but we call bullshit. He looked well and truly over 300.

Last we heard he was hopping in in Uruguay, and images suggest he’s closing in on 400 lbs. Is that even possible?

Glen Davis

Big Baby Davis is probably the most famous big big man of the decade. He’s been big his entire life. In fact, when he was 9 years old, he was so big that he had to play with the older kids, which probably helped him develop his game quicker than those his age.

Legend has it that a teenage Baby got in a wrestling match with the then 325 lb Shaquille O’Neal at an LSU camp, where he allegedly lifted and body slammed the Hall of Famer to the ground, not that Shaq would ever admit to that.

Greg Ostertag

Kent Horner/NBAE via Getty Images

Greg Ostertag is the poster boy for big clumsy white basketball players. That’s no mean feat, considering there’s been a few hundred contenders over the past few decades. But that didn’t stop the 7’2” 280 lbs beast putting his size to good use. On the defensive end that is.<

This guy was one of the biggest offensive liabilities in history, never managing to average double-digit points per game in a single season. Somehow, the Jazz never had a losing season with him at the 5, earning himself a cult-like following along the way.

Bryant Reeves

Bryant Reeves looks like Greg Ostertag’s uncle, the one that lives out in a trailer in the boonies, the one that gets rowdy at family BBQs.

Fittingly , Reeves was nicknamed “Big Country” because he did actually grow up in a small town in Arkansas, but it might have been because he looks like a giant redneck. But like all At 7 foot plus white guys in the NBA, he was extremely awkward and uncoordinated. He did manage to string some OK seasons together, but he only managed six years in the majors.

Robert Traylor

Lisa Blumenfeld/Getty Images

Coming in well over 300 lbs. at one point during his career, you can see why he got the nickname “Tractor”. he’s the first guy i can recall who ever got axed from a team for not passing a team’s physical examination (That team was the Nets in 2005).

Very tragically, Traylor passed away at the age of 34 from a heart attack in his apartment in Puerto Rico, where he was playing pro hoops at the time.

Craig Smith

Craig Smith, lovingly known as Rhino (better than Hippo, right?), wasn’t a big deal going into the 2006 Draft. But being pick 36, you knew he was going to be a solid player. And we mean that in every sense of the word.

He only ended up playing six seasons in the NBA, averaging 7.6 points and 17 minutes a game. He ended up his career in Israel back in 2015.

Jerome James

Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images

Jerome James remains at the centre of one of the worst deals in NBA history. In a classic New York move, the Knicks inexplicably gave the man they call “Big Snacks” a ludicrous $30 million over five years. This was after a mediocre five years at Seattle. Before that he played in Montenegro and France, One year with the Kings. But before all of that, he was with the Harlem Globetrotters.

Towards the end of his career, he was traded to the Bulls, but he never played a game. But here, in his media day photo, you can see just how big the centre was circa 2009.

Sean May

You’ve gotta feel for Sean May.

He was the man during his 2005 NCAA championship with the Tar Heels, winning Most Outstanding Player of the tournament. The expectations were sky high. He even won the Summer League MVP in 2006. But micro-fracture surgery on his knee during his second season completely changed the trajectory of his career. His time on the sidelines led to weight gain and a lack of stamina, and he never returned to his promising potential.

John Williams

What’s there to do in Indiana? Not much. Quite obviously big Johhny eats when he’s bored, so it’s no surprise John Williams ended up looking like this. I mean, he was always a big dude when he joined the NBA in 1986, but this was next level. The 12th overall pick in the 1986 draft never quite lived up to expectations. Perhaps the downfall started when he won the USA Boy’s McDonalds All-American game MVP — the prize looks like it might have been a lifetime supply of Micky D’s.

Oliver Miller

The Big O is more famous for being fat than he is for having been a basketball player. Most of the guys on this list struggled for only a few years with their weight, but Miller was big (and not just strong big, like Shaq, but flat-out fat) for his entire career. It’s remarkable that he even made the NBA in that shape.

But remarkably, his weight didn’t seem to hold him back. He played a respectable seven years in the NBA, but his professional career extended out to and incredible 19 years, for an even more unbelievable 18 teams. Not to mention his two stints with the Harlem Globetrotters.

In the NBA, he was listed at 315 lbs. but most say he got up to 375 lbs. That’s 50 lbs. heavier than Shaq — at four inches shorter.