The tallest players in NBA history occupy a strange shelf in the league's record book. They are simultaneously among the most famous players ever drafted — every fan can name at least two of them — and among the least productive when measured against the expectations height imposes. With a couple of legendary exceptions, the men at the top of this list are remembered more for their measurements than for their statistics. The list below mixes Hall of Famers, cult heroes, one-game cameos, and the league's ongoing argument about what an "official" height actually means.
A Note on How Height Is Measured
For decades, NBA rosters listed player heights on the honor system — teams submitted whatever a player or their agent claimed, often with shoes on, often rounded up. In September 2019, the league issued a directive ordering teams to submit barefoot measurements during training camp, rounded to the nearest inch. Dozens of players lost an inch overnight. For most older players on this list, the listed heights still reflect the pre-2019 measurement era, which is why so many of the all-time tallest figures carry the asterisks they do.
1 (tie). Gheorghe Mureșan — 7'7"
Mureșan is the only player on this list whose 7'7" listing has never been seriously contested. The Romanian center was drafted 30th overall by the Washington Bullets in 1993 and played seven seasons before back injuries cut his career short in 2000. Across 307 regular-season games for the Bullets and Nets, he averaged 9.8 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 1.48 blocks per game while shooting 57.3% from the floor.
His breakthrough came in 1995–96, when he averaged 14.5 points, 9.6 rebounds, and 2.26 blocks per game while leading the NBA with a 58.4% field goal percentage. He won that season's Most Improved Player award and looked, briefly, like he might be the rare super-tall player to settle into a long career. Recurring back problems took that future away. Mureșan retired with the title of the official tallest player in NBA history — a designation Guinness World Records still credits him with.
1 (tie). Manute Bol — 7'7"
Bol shares the top of the list, though the precise number has always been a moving target. Basketball-Reference lists him at 7'7", the NBA listed him between 7'6" and 7'7" at different points, and Guinness World Records measured him at 7'6¾" — close enough to call it a tie. He was the son of a Dinka tribal elder from Turalei, in what is now South Sudan, discovered by an American coach running clinics in the country during the summer of 1982. Three years later he was drafted by the Washington Bullets.
Over a 10-year career across the Bullets, Warriors, 76ers, and Heat, Bol played 624 games and averaged 2.6 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 3.3 blocks per game. He is the only player in NBA history to retire with more career blocks than career points. He led the league in blocks per game in 1988–89, swatting 4.3 shots a night. The points were thin, but Bol redefined what shot-blocking could look like, and his humanitarian legacy — funding civil-war relief in Sudan with his NBA earnings — outlived his playing days.
3 (tie). Yao Ming — 7'6"
Yao is the only player on the top half of this list who was both extraordinarily tall and a legitimate superstar. The Houston Rockets took him first overall in 2002, and across nine seasons he averaged 19.0 points, 9.2 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks per game while shooting 52.4% from the field over 486 regular-season games. He made eight All-Star teams (one in every season he played), earned five All-NBA selections, and in 2016 became the first Chinese national inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame — the tallest Hall of Famer in basketball history.
What separated Yao from the others was footwork, touch, and basketball IQ. He posted up with genuine craft and was an 80%+ free-throw shooter for several seasons — unheard of for a player his size. Recurring stress fractures in his feet ended his career at 30. He played his last NBA minutes in November 2010 and formally retired in 2011.
3 (tie). Shawn Bradley — 7'6"
Bradley was the polar opposite of Yao: a 7'6" frame attached to a thin body, a defensive specialist whose career fell well short of his draft slot. The 76ers took him second overall in 1993, ahead of Penny Hardaway and Jamal Mashburn, and he played 12 NBA seasons across Philadelphia, New Jersey, and Dallas. He finished with averages of 8.1 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 2.5 blocks per game, retiring in 2005.
He set a 76ers franchise single-season blocks record (274) in just his second NBA year, then broke his personal best by blocking 228 shots for the Mavericks in 2000–01 to lead the league. The shot-blocking translated. The rest didn't. Bradley's size and reach were never matched by the strength to anchor a half-court defense or hold position in the post.
3 (tie). Tacko Fall — 7'6"
Fall is the youngest 7'6" player on this list and the only one who set a measurement record at the NBA Draft Combine. In 2019, his Combine measurements established all-time NBA records for tallest height in shoes (7'7"), longest wingspan (8'2.25"), and highest standing reach (10'2.5"). He went undrafted that year, signed a two-way contract with the Boston Celtics, and became a cult favorite. Across two seasons in Boston, Fall played 26 games and averaged 2.7 points and 2.6 rebounds in 6.5 minutes per outing. He signed with Cleveland in 2021, played briefly, and has since spent most of his career overseas and in the G League.
6 (tie). Chuck Nevitt — 7'5"
The original "victory cigar." Nevitt played in the league across nine seasons between 1982 and 1994 and appeared in 155 games for the Rockets, Lakers, Pistons, Bulls, and Spurs. He averaged 1.6 points and 1.5 rebounds in 5.3 minutes per game. Nevitt was a member of the 1985 Lakers championship team — making him the tallest player ever to win an NBA title — and he earned the nickname "Human Victory Cigar" for the predictability of his garbage-time appearances.
6 (tie). Slavko Vraneš — 7'5"
The shortest career of any name on this list. The Montenegrin center was selected by the New York Knicks in the second round of the 2003 NBA draft, never played a minute for them, and signed a 10-day contract with the Portland Trail Blazers in January 2004. He played a single NBA game on January 8, 2004 — three minutes, no points, no rebounds — and never returned to the league. He's listed at 7'5" on Basketball-Reference and at 2.29 m (7'6") in some European sources, a discrepancy that reflects the messy measurement standards of the pre-2019 era.
6 (tie). Pavel Podkolzin — 7'5"
The Russian center was selected 21st overall by the Utah Jazz in the 2004 NBA draft and immediately traded to the Dallas Mavericks. Across two seasons in Dallas, Podkolzin appeared in six NBA games for a total of 28 minutes, averaging 0.7 points and 1.5 rebounds. The Mavericks waived him in 2006 despite two years remaining on his guaranteed rookie contract.
6 (tie). Sim Bhullar — 7'5"
The most historically significant cameo on this list. Bhullar, born in Toronto to parents from the Punjab region of India, signed with the Sacramento Kings in 2015 and became the first player of Indian descent to play in an NBA game when he checked in for the final 16.1 seconds of a Kings-Timberwolves matchup. He played three NBA games total — all in 2014–15 with Sacramento — and spent the rest of his playing days in the G League and overseas.
10 (tie). Mark Eaton — 7'4"
The first of the 7'4" tier and one of the great success stories on this list. Eaton spent all 11 of his NBA seasons (1982–1993) with the Utah Jazz, won the Defensive Player of the Year award in 1985 and 1989, and was named to the NBA All-Defensive Team five times. He was a 1989 All-Star and led the league in blocks four separate seasons. He still holds the NBA single-season records for total blocks (456) and blocks per game (5.6), both set in 1984–85, plus the career mark for blocks per game (3.5). The Jazz retired his number 53.
10 (tie). Ralph Sampson — 7'4"
The Hall of Famer in the 7'4" tier. Sampson was a three-time college player of the year at Virginia and the first overall pick of the 1983 NBA draft. As a rookie he averaged 21.0 points and 11.1 rebounds and won Rookie of the Year. In his first three seasons with the Houston Rockets he averaged 20.7 points and 10.9 rebounds per game and helped form the original "Twin Towers" frontcourt with Hakeem Olajuwon. He made four straight All-Star teams and was named the 1985 All-Star Game MVP.
Then his knees failed him. Sampson was traded to Golden State in 1987, played sparingly for the Warriors and Kings, and was out of the NBA by 1991. His career line — 15.4 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 2.3 assists across 456 games — was held back by injury, but the peak was undeniable, and he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012.
10 (tie). Rik Smits — 7'4"
The Dunking Dutchman. Drafted second overall by the Indiana Pacers in 1988, Smits spent his entire 12-year career in Indiana, retiring in 2000 after the Pacers' loss to the Lakers in the NBA Finals. He averaged 14.8 points and 6.1 rebounds across 867 regular-season games, made one All-Star team (1998), and was one of the most consistent offensive centers of the 1990s.
10 (tie). Priest Lauderdale — 7'4"
Lauderdale was the 28th overall pick of the 1996 NBA draft, selected by the Atlanta Hawks at the back end of the first round. Across two seasons split between the Hawks and the Denver Nuggets, he played 74 NBA games and averaged 3.4 points and 1.9 rebounds. The skill never caught up to the size, and he spent the rest of his playing days in Europe.
10 (tie). Boban Marjanović — 7'4"
The most recognizable 7'4" player of the modern era. Marjanović didn't make his NBA debut until age 27 and built a nine-year career across the Spurs, Pistons, Clippers, Sixers, Mavericks, and Rockets from 2015 through 2024. He averaged 5.6 points and 3.6 rebounds per game across 329 regular-season appearances, but his per-36 numbers were among the most productive in the league. Boban became a cult hero for his on-court ferocity, his off-court demeanor, and a handful of supporting roles in films like John Wick: Chapter 3. He retired after the 2023–24 season.
Why the Giants Struggled
Read the list end to end and a pattern emerges: the four most successful players in the 7'4"+ tier — Yao Ming, Mark Eaton, Ralph Sampson, and Rik Smits — share a profile that almost no other name on this list does. They moved. Yao's footwork in the post was textbook. Eaton positioned himself defensively before opponents finished their dribble move. Sampson, before his knees gave out, was genuinely athletic for his size. Smits ran the floor and finished with touch. The players who failed at the same heights — Bradley, Lauderdale, Podkolzin, Bhullar, Nevitt — were drafted on raw measurements alone, and the league's pace overwhelmed them.
The other through-line is health. Yao's career ended at 30 because of repeated foot stress fractures. Sampson's prime lasted three years before his knees collapsed. Mureșan's back gave out at 29. Bol struggled with chronic conditions throughout his life. Carrying that much skeletal length in an NBA frame is brutal on the body, and the longer the career, the more compounding the toll. Eaton, who held his weight better and accepted a defensive-specialist role early, is one of the rare players this size to log a full decade-plus career.
The Global Scouting Era
A subtler pattern: more than half the players on this list were born outside the United States. Mureșan (Romania), Bol (Sudan), Yao (China), Vraneš (Montenegro), Podkolzin (Russia), Bhullar (Canada, of Indian heritage), Smits (Netherlands), Marjanović (Serbia), and Fall (Senegal) all represent a scouting trend that exploded in the 1990s and 2000s — front offices began combing the globe for extreme physical specimens who weren't appearing on American college rosters. The hit rate was low, but the upside was undeniable, and the 1993 Mureșan pick at #30, the 2002 Yao pick at #1, and the 2015 Marjanović free-agent signing all justified the investment. The downside cases — Podkolzin, Vraneš, Lauderdale — became cautionary tales for the next generation of international project picks.
The current era has refined the model. Victor Wembanyama, the Spurs star whose official 2025–26 height was updated to 7'5" barefoot, is the rare giant who arrived in the league with the mobility, perimeter skill, and frame to suggest he can hold up at a level no one over 7'4" has ever sustained for long. He sits, for now, at the boundary of this list — officially shorter than Yao but reportedly still growing — and the question of where his name eventually lands on the all-time tallest leaderboard is one of the most interesting open files in modern NBA scouting.
Related Reading
- The Shortest NBA Players Who Made an Impact
- The Largest Hands in NBA History
- The Biggest Busts in NBA History
- How International Players Transformed the NBA
The names on this list — and the heights they were officially or unofficially listed at — show up constantly in NBA trivia, often in trickier ways than you'd expect. Take a swing at our Higher or Lower game, where two players stand side by side and your job is to figure out who outranks the other on a stat that doesn't always favor the giant. The tallest player in the matchup isn't always the right answer.