NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal has had the opportunity to live out most of his dreams, but admits there are still two very special things on his bucket list.
The four-time NBA championship winner said that, despite his numerous accolades and a lifestyle that has afforded him the ability to do whatever he wishes, there are a few special things that he still wants to accomplish.
“I’ve mostly done everything that I’ve set out to do, but I would like to skydive,” he said during a recent interview with People. While discussing going up to great heights, the former NBA star also mentioned he wants to hike Kilimanjaro.
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O’Neal said that he has been fortunate enough to try a number of fun things in his life and admits that he enjoyed some more than others. He noted that he had already tried scuba diving, but it wasn’t his favorite type of adventure.
He said he “didn’t like that” because it was “very, very, very, very deep,” according to People.
“I didn’t like scuba diving,” he said. “Skydiving would probably be next on the list. A lot of times, I just sit and think like, ‘I want to do this, I want to do that.’ So I think the next big thing that I would love to do is skydive.”
O’Neal said he came very close to checking skydiving off his bucket list, but he didn’t see his plans through because he realized there could be a potential problem on the horizon.
“My only fear is, can the parachute hold me?” he told People.
“I went to one little class one time and the lady was like, ‘How much do you weigh?’ I was like, and at this time I was heavy, I was like, ‘400 lbs,'” he said.
O’Neal described the problematic situation.
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“She was like, ‘I think it goes up to 350. But my mom, she sews. She can sew two together,” he joked.
He decided to opt out with concerns that this would be too risky if the parachute couldn’t support his frame. (RELATED: REPORT: Shaquille O’Neal’s Surgery Details Revealed)
“So I want to make sure that everything’s in order before I go up there.”
In addition to skydiving, hiking Kilimanjaro also remains on the star athlete’s bucket list.
“I’ve thought about it, hiking up to that. But I’ll probably have to get into tip, tip, tip, tip, tip-top shape to do that,” he said.
O’Neal went on to describe himself as being “still a kid at heart,” and noted that he saw kids skydiving on social media, and felt inspired to do the same.
“I always would follow these kids that skydive and jump out of planes, and I always wonder what I will feel if I can do that. So if I do anything out of this world, it would probably be that.”