Tallest and longest NBA basketball players: top 10

10. Victor Vembanyama – 224 cm.

• Country: France
• Teams: San Antonio Spurs
• Career years: since 2023

Even with a height of 224 cm, the Frenchman could not get into the ranking of the tallest basketball players in the NBA. After all, four other basketball players with the same height claim this position: Mark Eaton, Rick Smits, Ralph Sampson and Priest Lauderdale. However, Vembanyama is the biggest player in the NBA for the 2023/24 season, so Victor should definitely be at the top of the list.

The French basketball player was being touted as a future NBA legend long before the 2023 draft. Modern basketball isn’t so dependent on player height anymore. But despite his tall stature, Vembanyama is quite technical and has a lot of skills in his arsenal in terms of shooting and making assists. And he is most effective at rebounding both on his own and off the backboard.

9. Pavel Podkolzin – 226 cm

• Country: Russia
• Teams: Dallas Mavericks
• Career years: 2004-2006

The Russian was selected by the Utah Jazz in 2004 with the 21st pick of the draft. But the player was immediately traded to Dallas, which Utah doesn’t regret. Basketball player stood out with impressive dimensions. Dallas tried to make Podkolzin a dominant centre. It was expected that the player would pick up most of the rebounds and help the team offensively. But the Russian’s game had nothing to do with top basketball. This is the case when significant growth did not help in the development of a basketball career. The player has played in only six games in two seasons, has 0 accurate shots from the game and scored 4 points with free throws, with an accuracy of 50%. Also, the basketball player has only 9 rebounds in 6 games and 1 blocked shot.

8. Taco Fall – 226 cm

• Country: Senegal
• Teams: Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers
• Career Years: 2019-2022

Taco Fall is a player who was not selected in the draft. But Boston signed the basketball player to a contract with an opportunity for him to play not only for the main team, but also for the J-League farm club. The Senegalese played most of his games playing for the second team, as well as in the NBA Summer League for Boston. However, in the main games for the Celtics, Tako showed himself weakly. In the 2019/20 season, the player averaged 3.3 points per game, which is his best in the NBA.

7. Chuck Nevitt – 226 cm

• Country: USA
• Teams: Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers, Detroit Pistons, Chicago Bulls, San Antonio Spurs.
• Career years: 1983-1993

In seventh place is American basketball player Chuck Nevitt. On the example of the above players, we can come to the conclusion that not always high growth guarantees success in the NBA. The same applies to Chuck. His performance was far from expected. For 10 years in the NBA, the basketball player appeared on the court only in 155 official games, scoring a total of 251 points, or 1.6 points per game on average.

At the same time, the player averaged only 1.5 rebounds per game and 0.7 blocked shots per game. In comparison, Michael Jordan, who leads the ranking of the top 10 tallest jumpers in the NBA, averages 6.2 rebounds per game and 0.8 blocked shots at 198 cm tall. However, Chuck Nevitt made NBA history as the tallest National Basketball Association champion (with the 1985 Lakers).

6. Sim Bullard – 226 cm

• Country: Canada
• Teams: Sacramento Kings
• Career years: 2014-2015

Bullar has a Canadian passport, but became the first player of Indian origin in the NBA. Sim managed to get on the list of the highest players in the history of American basketball, although he was not able to play a single game in the championship. The player was not selected at the draft, but the Sacramento team decided to sign him to a contract in 2014.

For Kings, Bullar played in only two preseason games, and in the opening game he appeared for only 7 seconds. After that, the player’s contract was not renewed and Bullar went to play in the Development League. In 2015, the basketball player signed a 10-day contract with Sacramento where he made his NBA debut in a winning game against Minnesota. Bullard appeared on the court for the last 16.1 seconds of the game. The basketball player spent most of his later career in the Chinese championship.

5. Yao Ming – 229 cm

• Country: China
• Teams: Houston Rockets
• Career years: 2002-2011

Yao Ming is the most productive basketball player in this ranking. The Chinese giant played nine full seasons for Houston, during which he played in 481 games. During this period he scored 9,196 points, or an average of 19.1 points per game. The player also has a good defensive performance, averaging 9.2 rebounds and 1.9 blocked shots per game.

Yao Ming is one of the most famous athletes from Asia. The Chinese giant became the first foreigner to be selected with the number one pick in the draft. After the first regular season, Ming was recognised as the rookie of the season, and in the voting to make the All-Star team, he overtook Shaquille O’Neal himself. Yao had a high free throw accuracy rate (83.3%), which is very good for a centre with his size.

4. Shawn Bradley – 229 cm

• Country: Germany/USA
• Teams: Philadelphia Sixers, New Jersey Nets, Dallas Mavericks.
• Career years: 1993-2005

Shawn Bradley was born in Germany, but later acquired US citizenship. He entered the NBA in 1993 as a second-round draft pick and began his career in American basketball with the Philadelphia Seventy Sixers. Bradley played the most games in the National Basketball Association among players in the top. Shawn appeared in 832 NBA games on the basketball court and scored 6,752 career points, or an average of 8.1 points per game. The basketball player’s main trump card was blocked shots, averaging 2.5 per game.

3. Slavko Vranesh – 230 cm

• Country: Montenegro
• Teams: Portland Trail Blazers
• Career years: 2004

The Montenegrin centre was announced in the NBA with a height of 226 cm. But most other sources, where the basketball player played, indicate the player’s height as 230 cm. Vranesh was a player of the Montenegrin national team, but his basketball career did not work out in the NBA. In 2003, Vranesh was drafted 39th overall by the New York Knicks, for whom he never took the court. In January 2004, Slavko signed a 10-day contract with Portland, for which he played only one game.

It was the only game of the Montenegrin centre in the NBA, but it was enough to get him to the third place among the tallest basketball players in the history of the National Basketball Association.

2. Gheorghe Muresan – 231 cm

• Country: Romania
• Teams: Washington Bullets, New Jersey Nets.
• Career years: 1993-2000

Gheorghe Muresan spent 6 seasons in the NBA. But his tall stature did not help the player to show high results in the championship or to achieve significant success with teams. Muresan played only three games in the playoffs with the Washington Bullets in the 1996/97 season. In total, the Romanian centre played 307 games in the NBA, in which he scored 3020 points, which is an average of 9.8 points per game. The player’s performance in defence is good, but not what one would expect from a 231 cm tall basketball player. Mureshan has averaged 6.4 rebounds and 1.5 blocked shots in his NBA career.

1. Manute Bol – 231 cm

• Country: Sudan
• Teams: Washington Bullets, Golden State Warriors, Miami Heat, Philadelphia Sixers.
• Career years: 1985-1995

Manute Bol rivals Gheorghe Mureshan for the title of tallest basketball player in NBA history. Some sources say that the centre was even 232 cm tall. The Sudanese player stood out on the court not only for his height, but also for his lean physique and weighed about 102 kg in optimal shape. However, as the player’s opponents noted, he had a wide arm span and could intercept the ball from a long distance and at the most unexpected moment.