The NBA is a land of giants. If I ask you who are the tallest people you have seen, then you must mention players from the NBA. Apart from being strong, athletic, fast, and agile, they are tall. Very tall in fact. The tall height provides some advantages to the players to perform well on the court.
You will be shocked to hear that the average height for players in the NBA in 2023 is 6’6″! What is more shocking is that none of the top 10 tallest NBA players of all time are six-footers. Instead, all of them are more than 7 ft tall.
Let’s check on the top 10 tallest NBA players of all time. Get ready to get some real shocks.
Here Are The Top 10 Tallest NBA Players Of All Time
| Player Name | Height (ft. in.) |
| Gheorghe Muresan | 7′ 7″ |
| Manute Bol | 7′ 7″ |
| Shawn Bradley | 7′ 6″ |
| Yao Ming | 7′ 6″ |
| Slavko Vranes | 7′ 6″ |
| Chuck Nevitt | 7′ 5″ |
| Pavel Podkolzin | 7′ 5″ |
| Sim Bhullar | 7′ 5″ |
| Tacko Fall | 7′ 5″ |
| Mark Eaton | 7′ 4″ |
1. Gheorghe Muresan
| Full Name | Gheorghe Dumitru Mureșan |
| Date of Birth | February 14, 1971 |
| Birth’s Place | Tritenii de Jos, Romania |
| Nationality | Romanian |
| Position | Center |
| Weight | 330 pounds |
| NBA Draft | Selected 30th overall in 1993 by the Washington Bullets |
- 1996: NBA Most Improved Player
- 2 times NBA Field Goal Percentage Leader (1996, 1997)
Okay, now 7 ft 7 inches is really too big to consider as common. How many 7’7″ have you seen in your life? I bet not so many. Gheorghe Muresan is a former NBA basketball player who was born in Romania.
He was drafted into the NBA in 1993 and was picked at overall number 30. His height was enough to draw eyes to him. With that huge height and over three hundred pounds weighter, he was a giant no one could miss noticing.
In 1996, he received the most improved player award. Unfortunately, however, his career did not go much longer. He played in the NBA for only six seasons. His career was cut short because of a knee injury.
Career Stats of Gheorghe Muresan
| Games | Points | Total Rebounds | Assists | Win Shares | PER |
| 307 | 9.8 | 6.4 | 0.5 | 18.1 | 19.0 |
2. Manute Bol
| Full Name | Manute Bol |
| Date of Birth | October 16, 1962 |
| Birth’s Place | Gogrial, South Sudan |
| Nationality | Sudanese/American |
| Position | Center |
| Weight | 225 pounds (102 kg) |
| NBA Draft | Selected 31st overall in 1985 by the Washington Bullets |
- 2 time NBA blocks leader (1986, 1989)
- 1 time NBA All-Defensive Second Team (1986)
Manute Bol was a 7’7″ who was born in Siberia and instantly drew everyone’s eye to the competition. He used to play in the center position. With such a height, he was quite good in defense, and obviously, players found it a challenge to go past the Siberian giant.
How good was he as a blocker? He was the block leader in two different seasons. Bol had a comparatively long career and competed in 624 games. He also recorded 12.3 win shares in his career. He claimed the tallest NBA player’s position until Muresan tackled him by a few millimeters.
Career Stats of Manute Bol
| Games | Points | Total Rebounds | Assists | Win Shares | PER |
| 624 | 2.6 | 4.2 | 0.3 | 12.3 | 9.4 |
3. Shawn Bradley
| Full Name | Shawn Paul Bradley |
| Date of Birth | March 22, 1972 |
| Birth’s Place | Landstuhl, West Germany (now Germany) |
| Nationality | American/German |
| Position | Center |
| Weight | 275 pounds (125 kg) |
| NBA Draft | Selected 2nd overall in 1993 by the Philadelphia 76ers |
- 1 time NBA blocks leader (1997)
- 1 time NCAA blocks leader (1991)
Shawn Bradley is an American German former basketball player who was born in 1972. He also used to play in the center position. Bradley was surely not just all height but also had skills. He was selected 2nd overall in the 1993 draft by the Philadelphia 76ers.
Bradley was huge in height, but he was light in weight. It helped him move around with much speed. Bradley had been in the NBA for a long time and competed in more than 800 games. He recorded an impressive 40.7 win shares in his career.
Radley became the NBA blocks leader in 1997. And sure enough, he was popular among the fans for his height as well as his amiable behavior.
Career Stats of Shawn Bradley
| Games | Points | Total Rebounds | Assists | Win Shares | PER |
| 832 | 8.1 | 6.3 | 0.7 | 40.7 | 16.0 |
4. Yao Ming
| Full Name | Yao Ming |
| Date of Birth | September 12, 1980 |
| Birth’s Place | Shanghai, China |
| Nationality | Chinese |
| Position | Center |
| Weight | 310 pounds (141 kg) |
| NBA Draft | Selected 1st overall in 2002 by the Houston Rockets |
- 8 times NBA All-Star (2003–2009, 2011)
- 2003: NBA All-Rookie First Team
- No. 11 retired by Houston Rockets
With a 7′ 6″ height, Yoo Ming ranks 4th among the top 10 tallest NBA players of all time. He was born in 1980 in Shanghai, China. Like most of the tallest players, Ming was also a center-back, and he was very good in his position.
Honestly speaking, he was one of the finest center-backs of his time. He had been an NBA all-star eight times in ten seasons. There was high hope for Ming, and you can tell from his draft. He was the overall first draft in 2002 and was selected by the Houston Rockets.
Ming lived up to the expectation from the very first season. He ensured his position in the 2003 NBA all-rookie first team. But that was just the beginning. He kept blocking the center for his team for several seasons.
Ming recorded a career win share of 65.9. After his retirement, the Rockets retired their no.1 jersey to show honor and acknowledge Ming’s contribution to the team.
Career Stats of Yao Ming
| Games | Points | Total Rebounds | Assists | Win Shares | PER |
| 486 | 19.0 | 9.2 | 1.6 | 65.9 | 23.0 |
5. Slavko Vranes
| Full Name | Slavko Vranes |
| Date of Birth | January 30, 1983 |
| Birth’s Place | Niksic, Yugoslavia (now Montenegro) |
| Nationality | Montenegrin |
| Position | Center |
| Weight | 275 pounds (125 kg) |
| NBA Draft | Selected 39th overall in 2003 by the New York Knicks |
You may not recognize the Montenegrin basketball player, as he played only one match in the NBA. However, he has played in different other competitions in many countries like Italy, Iran, Serbia, and Turkey.
In his only game, he came to play in the extra minutes and had only one shot to hit, which he failed. Anyway, his name is written amongst the tallest NBA players of all time.
Career Stats of Slavko Vranes
| Games | Points | Total Rebounds | Assists | Win Shares | PER |
| 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | -20.4 |
6. Chuck Nevitt
| Full Name | Charles Daniel Nevitt |
| Date of Birth | June 13, 1959 |
| Birth’s Place | Cortez, Colorado, USA |
| Nationality | American |
| Position | Center |
| Weight | 218 pounds (99 kg) |
| NBA Draft | Selected 148th overall in 1982 by the Houston Rockets |
- 1 time NBA champion (1985)
NBA teams want to have giant players in their center back, and that helped Chuck Nevitt get drafted to the NBA in 1982. He was not so great, but he got to compete in the NBA for six seasons. In addition, he was a part of the 1985 Lakers champion team.
Nevitt was born in Colorado in 1959 and was encouraged to pursue his career in the NBA because of his height. However, he did not have many momentous memories in his career. He competed in 155 games and scored, on average 1.6 points.
Career Stats of Chuck Nevitt
| Games | Points | Total Rebounds | Assists | Win Shares | PER |
| 155 | 1.6 | 1.5 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 9.1 |
7. Pavel Podkolzin
| Full Name | Pavel Nikolaevich Podkolzin |
| Date of Birth | January 15, 1985 |
| Birth’s Place | Novosibirsk, Russia |
| Nationality | Russian |
| Position | Center |
| Weight | 260 pounds (118 kg) |
| NBA Draft | Selected 21st overall in 2004 by the Utah Jazz |
The 7 ft 5 Russian giant Pavel Podkolzin failed to make an impression in the NBA. He got to play only six games. Then returned to Russia and made a name for himself. Well, honestly speaking, his NBA career has nothing special to mention except that he is one of the top 10 tallest NBA players of all time.
Career Stats of Pavel Podkolzin
| Games | Points | Total Rebounds | Assists | Win Shares | PER |
| 6 | 0.7 | 1.5 | 0.0 | -0.1 | 2.8 |
8. Sim Bhullar
| Full Name | Gursimran “Sim” Singh Bhullar |
| Date of Birth | December 2, 1992 |
| Birth’s Place | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Nationality | Canadian/Indian |
| Position | Center |
| Weight | 360 pounds (163 kg) |
| NBA Draft | Undrafted, signed in 2014 with the Sacramento Kings |
In the 2014 NBA draft, everyone had their eyes on the Canadian giant Sim Bhullar, who is also 7 ft. 5 inches tall. He also weighs 360 pounds, which makes him a good fit to play in the center-back position. His career in the NBA did not last long either, and he played for only one season.
Career Stats of Sim Bhullar
| Games | Points | Total Rebounds | Assists | Win Shares | PER |
| 3 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 44.3 |
9. Tacko Fall
| Full Name | Elhadji Tacko Sereigne Diop Fall |
| Date of Birth | December 10, 1995 |
| Birth’s Place | Dakar, Senegal |
| Nationality | Senegalese |
| Position | Center |
| Weight | 311 pounds (141 kg) |
| NBA Draft | Undrafted, signed in 2019 with the Boston Celtics |
The seven-and-a-half-footer is currently the tallest player in the NBA. Fall was born in 1995 in Senegal. And he was drafted into the NBA in 2019 and signed by the Boston Celtics. Till now, he has competed in 37 games and has scored an average of 2.2 points.
Right now, it seems like Fall is going to have a long career in the NBA. But for now, he is one of the tallest NBA players ever in the NBA.
Career Stats of Tacko Fall
| Games | Points | Total Rebounds | Assists | Win Shares | PER |
| 37 | 2.2 | 2.4 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 18.8 |
10. Mark Eaton
| Full Name | Mark E. Eaton |
| Date of Birth | January 24, 1957 |
| Birth’s Place | Inglewood, California, USA |
| Nationality | American |
| Position | Center |
| Weight | 275 pounds (125 kg) |
| NBA Draft | Selected 72nd overall in 1982 by the Phoenix Suns |
- 1 time NBA All-Star (1989)
- 2 times NBA Defensive Player of the Year (1985, 1989)
- 3 times NBA All-Defensive First Team (1985, 1986, 1989)
- 4 times 4× NBA blocks leader (1984, 1985, 1987, 1988)
You might have noticed that most of the tallest players on this list have failed to make it big in the NBA. But Mark Eaton is a different case. He had a long career in the NBA and played more than eight hundred games.
Ana naturally, he also used to play in the center and defended the center for Utah Jazz during his entire career. His career ended with a record of 44.8 win shares and an average of 6.7 points per game.
Also, Eaton had achieved many things as an individual player. He was named two times NBA defensive player of the year and a four-time NBA blocks leader. Being 7 ft 4 inches, he makes his entrance in the list of our top 10 tallest NBA players of all time.
Career Stats of Mark Eaton
| Games | Points | Total Rebounds | Assists | Win Shares | PER |
| 875 | 6.7 | 7.9 | 1.0 | 44.8 | 10.9 |
Conclusion
So, you have seen the top 10 tallest NBA players of all time and hopefully found it amazing to see such giants of the NBA. Many of them might not have a great career, but their presence was obviously special for the fans.
- Read Also: Top 30 Hottest WNBA Players
