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List of tallest players in National Basketball Association history

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This is a list of the tallest players in National Basketball Association history. It is currently topped by the 7-foot-7-inch (2.31 m) Romanian Gheorghe Mureșan, taken by the Washington Bullets as the number 30 overall pick in the 1993 NBA draft.[1]

Through 2019, twenty-six players have been listed at 7 feet 3 inches (2.21 m) or taller. Three are active as of the 2019–20 season; Kristaps Porziņģis and Boban Marjanović, both of the Dallas Mavericks, and Tacko Fall of the Cleveland Cavaliers. The tallest player inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is 7-foot-6-inch (2.29 m) Yao Ming. In addition to Yao, Ralph Sampson and Arvydas Sabonis were the only other players 7'3" or taller selected to the Hall of Fame.

Yasutaka Okayama, a 7-foot-8-inch (2.34 m) Japanese basketball player picked 171st overall in the seventh round of the 1981 NBA Draft by the Golden State Warriors, is the tallest player to ever be drafted for the NBA.[2] However, he never played in the NBA.[3]

^ Active NBA player
* Inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
GP Games played Pts Points PPG Points per game
FG% Field goal percentage FT% Free throw percentage Reb Rebounds
RPG Rebounds per game Blk Blocks BPG Blocks per game
Height Weight Player Nationality Teams GP Pts PPG FG% FT% Reb RPG Blk BPG Notes
7 ft 7 in (2.31 m) 315 lb (143 kg) Gheorghe Mureșan  Romania
 United States 		Washington Bullets (1993–1998)
New Jersey Nets (1998–2000) 		307 3,020 9.8 .573 .644 1,957 6.4 455 1.5
7 ft 7 in

(2.31 m)[note 1]

200 lb (91 kg) Manute Bol  Sudan Washington Bullets (1985–1988, 1994)
Golden State Warriors (1988–1990, 1994)
Philadelphia 76ers (1990–1993, 1994)
Miami Heat (1993–1994) 		625 1,599 2.6 .407 .561 2,647 4.2 2,086 3.3 Played alongside the shortest player in NBA history, Muggsy Bogues, during the 1987–88 season for the Washington Bullets; their difference in height was 28 inches (71 cm).
7 ft 6 in (2.29 m) 311 lb (141 kg) Tacko Fall^  Senegal Boston Celtics (2019–2021)

Cleveland Cavaliers (2021-present)

26 4 3.2 .750 .333 11 1.8 2 0.3
7 ft 6 in (2.29 m)[6][7][8] 302 lb (137 kg) Slavko Vraneš  Montenegro Portland Trail Blazers (2004) 1 0 0.0 .000 — 0 0.0 0 0.0 Played in one game, on January 8, 2004 against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Played 3 minutes, with one shot attempt from the field (missed) and one personal foul. Vraneš was officially listed as 7'5" while playing in the NBA, and has since grown taller (7'6" or 2.30 m), according to most sources.
7 ft 6 in (2.29 m) 275 lb (125 kg) Shawn Bradley  United States
 Germany 		Philadelphia 76ers (1993–1995)
New Jersey Nets (1995–1997)
Dallas Mavericks (1997–2005) 		832 6,752 8.1 .457 .716 5,268 6.3 2,119 2.5 Born to American parents in the former West Germany.
7 ft 6 in (2.29 m) 310 lb (141 kg) Yao Ming*  China Houston Rockets (2002–2011) 481 9,196 19.1 .525 .832 4,467 9.3 912 1.9 Tallest player to play in at least one All-Star Game. Also tallest player inducted into the Hall of Fame.
7 ft 5 in (2.26 m) 217 lb (98 kg) Chuck Nevitt  United States Houston Rockets (1982–1983, 1988–1990)
Los Angeles Lakers (1984–1985)
Detroit Pistons (1985–1988)
Chicago Bulls (1991)
San Antonio Spurs (1993) 		155 251 1.6 .438 .589 239 1.5 111 0.7 Tallest player to win an NBA Championship.
7 ft 5 in (2.26 m) 305 lb (138 kg) Pavel Podkolzin  Russia Dallas Mavericks (2004–2006) 6 4 0.7 .000 .500 9 1.5 1 0.1
7 ft 5 in (2.26 m) 359 lb (163 kg) Sim Bhullar  Canada Sacramento Kings (2015) 3 2 0.7 .500 — 1 0.3 1 0.3 First NBA player of Indian descent. Played 16 seconds in his debut on April 7, 2015.
7 ft 4 in (2.24 m) 290 lb (132 kg) Mark Eaton  United States Utah Jazz (1982–1993) 875 5,216 6.0 .458 .649 6,939 10.8 3,064 3.5 He set records for most blocked shots per game in a single season (5.56 bpg in 1984–85) and for an entire career (3.50 bpg)—both marks still stand today.
7 ft 4 in (2.24 m) 250 lb (113 kg) Rik Smits  Netherlands Indiana Pacers (1988–2000) 867 12,871 14.8 .507 .773 5,277 6.1 1,111 1.3 One-time NBA All-Star.
7 ft 4 in (2.24 m) 235 lb (107 kg) Ralph Sampson*  United States Houston Rockets (1983–1987)
Golden State Warriors (1987–1989)
Sacramento Kings (1989–1991)
Washington Bullets (1991–1992) 		456 7,039 15.4 .486 .661 4,011 8.8 752 1.6 Three time College national player of the year, #1 pick in the 1983 NBA draft, four-time All-Star, member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
7 ft 4 in (2.24 m) 290 lb (132 kg) Boban Marjanović^  Serbia San Antonio Spurs (2015–2016)
Detroit Pistons (2016–2018)
Los Angeles Clippers (2018–2019)
Philadelphia 76ers (2019)
Dallas Mavericks (2019–present) 		186 1,145 6.2 .583 .773 733 3.9 73 0.4
7 ft 4 in (2.24 m) 325 lb (147 kg) Priest Lauderdale  United States Atlanta Hawks (1996–1997)
Denver Nuggets (1997–1998) 		74 255 3.4 .472 .554 143 1.9 26 0.4
7 ft 3.5 in (2.22 m) 290 lb (132 kg) Peter John Ramos  Puerto Rico Washington Wizards (2004–2005) 6 11 1.8 .500 .500 4 0.7 1 0.2
7 ft 3 in (2.21 m) 263 lb (119 kg) Randy Breuer  United States Milwaukee Bucks (1983–1990)
Minnesota Timberwolves (1990–1992)
Atlanta Hawks (1992–1993)
Sacramento Kings (1993) 		681 4,599 6.8 .467 .628 2,986 4.4 750 1.1
7 ft 3 in (2.21 m) 260 lb (118 kg) Žydrūnas Ilgauskas  Lithuania Cleveland Cavaliers (1997–2010)
Miami Heat (2010–2011) 		771 10,616 13.8 .475 .780 5,904 7.7 1,269 1.6
7 ft 3 in (2.21 m) 292 lb (132 kg) Arvydas Sabonis*  Lithuania Portland Trail Blazers (1995–2001, 2002–2003) 470 5,629 12.0 .500 .786 3,436 7.3 494 1.1 Sabonis was originally drafted into the NBA in 1986 (Rd. 1, #24 overall), but was not allowed to play in the NBA for most of his career due to restrictions set by the former Soviet Union.
7 ft 3 in (2.21 m) 290 lb (132 kg) Hasheem Thabeet  Tanzania Memphis Grizzlies (2009–2011)
Houston Rockets (2011–2012)
Portland Trail Blazers (2012)
Oklahoma City Thunder (2012–2014) 		224 483 2.2 .567 .578 595 2.7 184 0.8 Only Tanzanian player to play in the NBA.
7 ft 3 in (2.21 m) 235 lb (107 kg) Swede Halbrook  United States Syracuse Nationals (1960–1962) 143 786 5.5 .347 .591 949 6.6 — —
7 ft 3 in (2.21 m) 212 lb (96 kg) Keith Closs  United States Los Angeles Clippers (1997–2000) 130 502 3.9 .471 .606 372 2.9 163 1.3 During his collegiate career, Closs averaged 5.9 blocks per game, which is the NCAA Division I record.
7 ft 3 in (2.21 m) 305 lb (138 kg) Ha Seung-Jin  South Korea Portland Trail Blazers (2005–2006) 46 70 1.5 .519 .500 67 1.5 13 0.3 Only Korean player to play in the NBA.
7 ft 3 in (2.21 m) 250 lb (113 kg) Aleksandar Radojević  Bosnia & Herzegovina
 Montenegro 		Toronto Raptors (1999–2000)
Utah Jazz (2004–2005) 		15 26 1.7 .308 .625 36 2.4 3 0.2
7 ft 3 in (2.21 m) 265 lb (120 kg) Walter Tavares  Cape Verde Atlanta Hawks (2015–2016)
Cleveland Cavaliers (2017) 		13 33 2.5 .625 .273 32 2.5 12 0.9 Only Cape Verdean player to play in the NBA.
7 ft 3 in (2.21 m) 256 lb (116 kg) Tibor Pleiß  Germany Utah Jazz (2015–2016) 12 24 2.0 .440 1.000 15 1.3 2 0.2
7 ft 3 in (2.21 m) 240 lb (109 kg) Kristaps Porziņģis^  Latvia New York Knicks (2015–2019)
Dallas Mavericks (2019–present) 		138 2,224 16.1 .436 .811 1001 7.3 263 1.9 Tallest winner of the Taco Bell Skills Challenge

See also[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ Official NBA sources variously list Bol at 7 ft 6 in (2.29 m)[4] or 7 ft 7 in (2.31 m).[5]

References[]

  1. ^ "1993 NBA Draft". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved 2008-11-28.
  2. ^ "Former NBA player, humanitarian Manute Bol dies at age 47". NY Daily News. Daily News, L.P. June 19, 2010. Retrieved December 5, 2010.
  3. ^ Kim, Randy (June 19, 2003). "Draft Oddities". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Retrieved December 5, 2010.
  4. ^ "Manute Bol". National Basketball Association. Retrieved March 28, 2020.
  5. ^ The Official NBA Encyclopedia. New York: Doubleday. 2000. p. 405. ISBN 9780385501309.
  6. ^ Realgm.com profile
  7. ^ ABA League profile
  8. ^ Euroleague.net profile
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