The Real-Life Diet of Boban Marjanovic, the NBA's Ripped, Soup-Loving Giant
Boban Marjanovic is 7’3” on a bad day, and boasts a 7’10” wingspan that allows him to dunk a basketball—and then scowl ferociously at the opponents beneath him—without even jumping off the ground. During a game last season, the Los Angeles Clippers center made Anthony Davis, who stands at a mere 6’10,” look like a puny child, holding a basketball above Davis’ outstretched arms as the perennial MVP candidate could only stare upwards and paw away at the air in humiliating fashion.
Like many ultra-tall-even-for-NBA-standards players, the 30-year-old native of Serbia comes off the bench and doesn’t log heavy minutes for the Clippers. But he makes the most of his on-court opportunities: His per-36 numbers rival those of legends like—no joke—Shaquille O’Neal. And unlike other ultra-tall-even-for-NBA-standards big men, who either can’t put weight on or can’t keep weight off, Marjanovic is actually...kind of ripped. As it turns out, the secret to this physique isn’t some sort of secret workout routine, magical bodybuilding supplement, or obscure all-greens diet. It’s soup, mostly. And dark chocolate.
GQ: You say grew up eating a ton of soup. How much soup are we talking about here?
Boban Marjanovic: Everyday I eat some soup. This is part of our culture—our mommies and grammies make it, and at any restaurant in Serbia, you can go in and find some soup. There might be minestrone, butternut squash, chicken noodle soup, tomato soup, mushroom soup, lamb soup. Whatever you can find, you can make a soup with that. I’m a big soup guy. Every meal I want to start with soup. I just finished my soup five minutes ago! It’s funny how everybody is surprised by that, but this is how most Serbians eat.
Do you have a favorite soup?
Yeah, my favorites are chicken noodle soup and tomato soup. I can eat any soup, but it just has to have a nice taste. It’s like chocolate—if you eat a dessert at the end of the meal, you want the dessert to be perfect.
Do you get Campbell’s, or since you’re a soup connoisseur, do you go for something fancier?
No, my mom and my wife, they make soup for me. They eat it by themselves as well, and they’re starting to teach the kids to eat soup at every meal. When you grow up, if you eat soup and you fill your body, you don’t need to eat anything else. Basically, it can be your diet. A soup diet.
How does your diet now compare to when you were growing up? Are there any big differences?
I cannot finish a meal if I do not have a good dessert. But when I say good, I mean it has to be really good. And it’s usually small stuff—a piece of candy, crepes, some apple cobbler. No cake. I don’t like cakes. Everything else I can eat, but not cakes.
So you’ve got a little bit of a sweet tooth.
I do like a lot of dark chocolate. Dark chocolate is really healthy. Basically, I didn’t change how I feed my body very much. Now, of course, I eat a little bit healthier. Your body needs good fuel, more healthy food than junk food. You must take care of what you eat because you want to keep your body fresh and your muscles recovered. I hear from the team, the nutritionists—they tell me how it’s supposed to be.
But I’m not running from the pasta. I think pasta is really good for me. Maybe not so good if you’re trying to go on a diet, but it’s good for me. A lot of chicken, a lot of steaks, a lot of beet salads, and cheese. I learned that beet salad is really healthy.
And soup.
When you sit down to eat a bowl of pasta, for instance, and you’re with a friend who isn’t as tall as you, do you end up eating a lot more than them? Or do you eat smaller portions than one might imagine?
It depends on the day. If I’m very hungry, I’ll order, like, four meals. I’ll give you example. We go to a restaurant here in Los Angeles that isn’t Serbian, but it has Serbian food. I take soup—tomato soup, maybe chicken noodle soup, mushroom soup—and a nice portion of goat cheese salad. I get pasta with prosciutto and grilled chicken on the side. This is one of my favorite meals. And if I’m still hungry, I’ll take crepes.
Do you think living in Los Angeles has helped at all with healthy eating?
Yeah, they have a lot of healthy options here. I know [teammate] Tobias [Harris] is more of a healthy guy—you can ask him anything about food because he knows how many calories are in everything, and what you need to eat. Sometimes I go with him around here. Everything I know about food, he told me.
So are you counting calories now too?
No, no, no. Not me.
I read that you were 6’10” when you were 14 years old. Were you super skinny back then? When did you start putting on muscle?
I was skinny, but not too skinny. I had muscle, but this muscle was not strong. At 16 and 17, I started to lift, and then I started to grow my muscles. I had a lot of good strength coaches with me. They helped me figure out what I needed to do—glutes, abs, back, shoulders, calves, legs. They had an example of everything you’re supposed to do.
I saw an Instagram post from August in which you were boxing. Is that something you’ve added to your workout routine?
Yeah, I think it’s good for footwork, good for your legs, good for your arms. You get really good conditioning.
I’d imagine you have a pretty solid reach. Did you ever consider boxing professionally?
Ha, no. I like my basketball. Maybe one day when I’m, like, 45.
What about dancing as a form of exercise? I know your forays into performance art have gotten pretty popular.
You know the women that walk around in the ring before the boxing match? If I have my boxing match, I’d do both. I’d be boxer guy and dancer.
Who in your estimation is the strongest guy in the NBA? You can nominate yourself if you want.
I don’t know about myself, but I know [Oklahoma City Thunder center] Steven Adams is pretty strong. He plays strong. And I’m not complaining if you play strong—he’s a good player and a good guy. I love to play against him.
What’s the nicest compliment anybody has given you during a game?
“Man, you’re tall as shit.”
This interview has been edited and condensed.
