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Body Size & Basketball

Body size is one of the most critical physical attributes for success in basketball. Height provides a clear advantage, particularly in rebounding, shot-blocking, and scoring near the basket.

tall basketball playertall Chinese basketball player

Taller players often possess longer wingspans and larger hands, which further enhance their ability to control the ball, defend opponents, and finish plays at the rim.

Over the decades, the NBA has seen a general trend toward taller, more physically dominant athletes, especially in key positions like center and power forward. While skill, agility, and strategy are all essential to the game, physical stature continues to play a major role in shaping player roles and team dynamics at the highest levels of competition.

Tall Players

One of the tallest players in the history of professional basketball is Sun Ming Ming, from Bayan in China. He stands 236 cm (7 ft 9 in) tall. In the NBA, Sudanese player Manute Bol, stood at 7 ft 7 in (231 cm) tall, and played for three NBA teams from 1985 to 1995. Of equal height was Romanian player Gheorghe Mureşan who also played in the NBA from 1993-2000. Olivier Rioux is the tallest basketball player ever, at 7'9 (236cm). He played first-year college basketball for the Florida Gators. 

Anthropometry and Olympic Athletes

London 2012 Olympic Games

Here is some information from the analysis of the anthropometric data (height, weight and age) from the basketball participants at the London 2012 Olympic Games. Basketballers were the tallest on average of all Olympic Games athletes. The tallest male athlete of all Olympic athletes stood at 2.21m, the Chinese basketball player Zhaoxu Zhang.

Sport Age Height (cm) Weight (kg) BMI
OVERALL AVERAGE (all sports) 26.1 176.9 72.8 23.3
Basketball (all) 27.2 192.2 87.1 23.4
Basketball (females) 26.8 184.2 76.1 22.4
Basketball (males) 27.5 200.3 99.1 24.6

Rio 2016 Olympic Games

Here is average data from the analysis of the anthropometric data of the basketball players at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

  Age (years) height (m) weight (kg) BMI
AVERAGE (all sports) 26.8 1.77 72.0 22.9
all basketball players 28.1 1.92 87.8 23.6
females 28.0 1.83 75.4 22.3
males 28.2 2.00 100.3 24.9

The Growth of Shaquille O'Neal

One of the most famous 'big' basketball players is Shaquille O'Neal, the 'Shaq'. Here is a list of his growth development from age 4.

AGE HEIGHT WEIGHT SHOE SIZE
(years) (feet/inches) (cms) (pounds) (kg) (US)
4 3'10 1/2" 118.1 56 25.4 Size 12
6
4'3 1/2" 130.8 82 37.2 Size 2
8 4'8 3/4" 144.1 108 50.0 Size 4
10 5'3 1/4" 160.7 139 63.0 Size 7 1/2
12 5'10" 177.8 192 87.1 Size 10 1/2
16 6'7" 200.7 265 120.2 Size 15
21 7'1" 215.9 302 137.0 Size 20
25 7'1" 215.9 310 140.6 Size 22

Short Players

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