NBA

Who are the 10 tallest players in NBA history?

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Gheorghe Muresan and Manute Bol are the tallest players in NBA history

The average height of an NBA player is generally around 6-foot-6. However, the range of player's height in NBA history is over two feet (24 inches), with the tallest player standing at 7-foot-7 and the shortest player standing in at 5-foot-3.

In NBA history, there have been 14 players to stand 7-foot-4 or taller. Of the nine, Boston Celtics center Tacko Fall is the only active NBA player. 

Two players have been listed as the tallest players in NBA history - Romanian national Gheorghe Muresan and Sudanese national Manute Bol - listed at 7-foot-7. At one point during the 1993-94 season, both players were on the Washington Bullets roster. 

MORE: 10 shortest players in NBA history

Over the course of their NBA career, Bol (625) played over double the many games that Muresan (307) checked into. After that duo, two players check-in at 7-foot-6 - Chinese national Yao Ming and German-American Shawn Bradley. 

List of all players 7-foot-5 or taller in NBA history
  Players Height NBA Playing career
1. Gheorghe Muresan 7-foot-7 1993-2001
  Manute Bol 7-foot-7 1985-1995
3. Shawn Bradley 7-foot-6 1993-2005
  Yao Ming 7-foot-6 2002-2011
5. Slavko Vraneš 7-foot-5 2004
  Chuck Nevitt 7-foot-5 1982-1994
  Pavel Podkolzin 7-foot-5 2004-2006
  Sim Bhullar 7-foot-5 2015
  Tacko Fall 7-foot-5 2019-Present
10. Mark Eaton 7-foot-4 1982-1993
  Rik Smits 7-foot-4 1988-2000
  Ralph Sampson 7-foot-4 1983-1992
  Boban Marjanovic 7-foot-4 2015-Present
  Priest Lauderdale 7-foot-4 1996-98

Notes

  • Manute Bol played alongside Muggsy Bogues - the shortest players in NBA history - for the Washington Bullets during the 1987-88 season. The height difference between the two of 28 inches is the most among teammate duo ever. 
  • Yao Ming is the tallest player to have played at least one NBA All-Star game. He is also the tallest player ever to be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. 
  • Chuck Nevitt is the tallest player in NBA history to have been part of a championship-winning team when he won his lone title with the Los Angeles Lakers in 1985. 
  • Sim Bhullar, a Canadian national, was the first player of Indian descent to log minutes in an NBA game. 
  • Tacko Fall, currently with the Cleveland Cavaliers, is the tallest active NBA player on this list. Dallas Mavericks' Boban Marjanovic is the only active player on the list.
  • Mark Eaton's career blocks average of 3.50 is an all-time NBA record. His record of 456 blocks during the 1984-85 season are the most ever in NBA history. 

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