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There aren’t many people on the planet who are able to make Shaquille O’Neal look small, but there’s at least one very notable exception in the form of Abiodun Adegoke, a 7’11” basketball behemoth hailing from Nigeria.
Shaq stands at 7’1″ and tipped the scales at over 400 pounds at certain points of his legendary NBA career, and his size made him one of the most formidable centers to ever step foot on the hardwood. However, he’s not even close to being the tallest player to ever do their thing in the league.
That particular honor goes to Gheorghe Mureșan and Manute Bol, who set the mark to beat in the NBA thanks to their 7’7″ frames. The latter was a native of Sudan who paved the way for African centers like his son Bol Bol, Dikembe Mutombo, and Tacko Fall, but none of them have anything on Abiodun Adegoke.
Adegoke, who hails from Nigeria and is known as “Big Naija,” popped up on Shaq’s radar a few years ago after O’Neal shared a video of the man who then stood at 7’9″ on Instagram.
Based on an article that asserted Adegoke was 17 years old in the latter half of 2016, it would appear the player (who has allegedly since grown to 7’11” and can dunk without leaving the ground) is currently 23 years old.
A few years ago, he headed to Dubai to compete in the MPAC Elite Youth League, and he’s racked up 130,000 followers on Instagram thanks to his staggering size.
Over the weekend, Adegoke added a new video to that account after linking up with Shaq in real life that showed him towering over the retired big man and barely leaving his feet while throwing down over Big Diesel.
Shaq isn’t the only professional basketball player Adegoke has made look tiny; he also dwarfed Karl-Anthony Towns when the Timberwolves star headed to Abu Dhabi for a preseason game against the Nuggets last year.