Loading...
It’s clear that being tall grants a massive advantage in basketball, and while you still need speed, skill and smarts to play in the NBA, an extremely skillful tall player will always overshadow his shorter counterpart.
Most of the tallest NBA players we know have had successful careers (unlike several of the shortest NBA players of all time), and in this article we’ll describe five of the tallest players to ever play in the NBA and find out whether their height served them well during their pro careers.
Starting our list of the tallest NBA players of all time is the US-German dual international known as Shawn Bradley, tied for the third-tallest player along with Yao Ming and Tacko Fall at a towering height of 7’6”. Bradley began his career for the 76ers back in 1993, playing until 1995 when he switched to the Nets until 1997, where he’d settled at the Dallas Mavericks before retiring in 2005.
When it comes to his experience, Bradley has a total of 832 games under his belt, making him the tallest player to have the most games played in the NBA, while still averaging a cool 8.1 points per game.
Another player with a towering height of 7’6” is the legendary Yao Ming of the Houston Rockets from 2002-20011. Tied for the third-tallest player in NBA history, the Chinese international stayed loyal to the Rockets for a whopping 10 straight seasons with a total of 481 games played.
Not only would he go on to be the tallest player in at least one NBA All-Star game, but he’d also be the tallest player inducted into the Hall of Fame, finishing his successful career averaging 19.1 points per game.
One of the more recent NBA players at a skyscraping height of 7’6” is Tacko Fall. The Senegalese-born player started his short-lived NBA career for the Boston Celtics in 2019 before being traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2021 for just one season.
After playing in just 37 games and averaging 2.2 points per game, Fall now plays in the Australian National Basketball League (NBL) for the New Zealand Breakers.
The first of two of the tallest players of all time in the NBA is Manute Bol, a Sudanese player who began his 10-season career with the Washington Bullets in 1985 at an incredible height of 7’7”. From 1988, he played for the Warriors before moving on to the 76ers in 1990, then the Heat in 1993 before retiring in 1994.
In total, Bol played 625 NBA career games with 1,599 points to his name, in addition to 2,647 career rebounds and 2,086 blocks, a highly respected stat for players of his caliber.
The other longtime legend tied as the tallest player to ever play in the NBA along with Bol is Gheorghe Mureșan, a US-Romanian player who comes in at a towering height of 7’7”. The legendary center started his seven-year career with the Washington Bullets not long after Bol left the team in 1993.
After playing with the Bullets until 1998, he joined the Nets where he’d finish his career in 2000 with 307 games played and a valuable 9.8 points per game. In 1996, he won the NBA’s Most Improved Player Award, leaving his mark in the NBA.
Liam has been a major sports fan and soccer player for over a decade, with a particular focus on major top-level soccer leagues, including the EPL, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga and MLS. He has written numerous promotional articles for various top sportsbooks and continues to publish historical and factual sports articles covering the NFL, MLS, NHL, MLB, EPL and more.