Body Size & Basketball
Body size is the most important physical attribute for sucess in basketball. Tall players usually come with large hands and a long reach too.
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. He plays for the Maryland Nighthawks in the NBA. Another very tall player, Manute Bol, stood at 7 ft 7 in (231 cm) tall, and played for the Washington Bullets. The tallest current NBA player is Yao Ming at 7 ft 6 in (229 cm).
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 3'10 1/2" | 56 pounds | Size 12 |
| 6 |
4'3 1/2" | 82 pounds | Size 2 |
| 8 | 4'8 3/4" | 108 pounds | Size 4 |
| 10 | 5'3 1/4" | 139 pounds | Size 7 1/2 |
| 12 | 5'10" | 192 pounds | Size 10 1/2 |
| 16 | 6'7" | 265 pounds | Size 15 |
| 21 | 7'1" | 302 pounds | Size 20 |
| 25 | 7' 1" (216 cm) | 310 pounds | Size 22 |
Short Players
- Muggsy Bogues is the shortest person to play in the NBA, and played for a 14 year period. He was only 5 foot 3 inches (160 cm) tall. Another short NBA player was Earl Boykins who was 5 feet, 5 inches (1.65m) in height, he is the second shortest player in NBA history.
Related Pages
- Fitness Testing for basketball
- height records, including the tallest and shortest in sports.
- Olympic Games Anthropometry for other sports in 2012.
- all about fitness testing, including anthropometry testing
- more on measuring body size from the fitness testing section.