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The game of basketball is dominated by giants, and naturally, height does provide a competitive advantage by getting you closer to the rim so that you can score, dunk, get rebounds, block shots, etc.
For this reason, it’s always a surprise to see a small player make a big name for himself in a sport where the average NBA height is roughly 6-foot-6 inches according to the 2019-2020 Roster Survey.
This list compiles the shortest NBA players that have become well-known and may even be revered as icons in the field of basketball despite their size.
Most of these players fall under or just at 6 feet, and considering that the average male height in the United States is 5-foot-9 inches, that would put them well within the average of most Americans.
However, on the court, they’re easily characterized as short-statured men relative to their teammates. Seeing them in action really demonstrates just how tall NBA players are that they make normal human beings look tiny by comparison.
The height difference has these players hard-pressed to make up for this drawback through their athleticism and talent in other aspects of the game.
This is why their ability to keep up and even dominate the court is a testament to the sheer amount of talent required to not only survive but thrive in professional basketball as the little guy.
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10 of the Shortest NBA Players
This list of NBA players goes in order from the tallest to the smallest players that are all within the height range of 6 feet and under.
Many more players fell within this height range that didn’t make the list, but hopefully, with these ten players, you can get a grasp of the possibilities available in basketball even for those that don’t visually meet expectations.
10. Chris Paul (6’0″)
(Verse Photography, Chris Paul warmup 20131118 Clippers v Grizzles, Cropped by BallAmazingly, CC BY-SA 2.0)
At six-feet, Chris Paul won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award in 2006 and finished second in the NBA Most Valuable Player Award voting in 2008 while he was a part of the New Orleans Hornet. From there he went on to play for the Los Angeles Clippers and the Houston Rockets and is currently with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Although he may not be exactly labeled as short by most people, he stands 6-feet under the average height of basketball players. However, having led the NBA in assists four times and steals six times, Chris more than makes up for his lack of height with his talent.
He’s currently a nine-time NBA All-Star and with his ability to defend and steal, he shows no signs of wavering.
9. Allen Iverson (6’0″)
(Keith Allison, Allen Iverson headshot, CC BY-SA 2.0)
At six-feet, Allen Iverson is one of the best scorers in NBA History who is revered for his scoring ability. He had a regular-season scoring average of 26.7 points per game that ranked seventh all-time, and a playoff career scoring average of 29.7 points per game that was second only to that of Micheal Jordan.
He was also an 11-time NBA All-star, a four-time scoring champion, and 2001 MVP. He was even rated the fifth-greatest NBA shooting guard of all time by ESPN in 2008, and he did all that as the little guy. Similar in height to Chris Paul, Iverson does not let his height be his only defining feature.
Iverson is an absolute icon in the sport of basketball, and even regular basketball players have a hard time measuring up to him and his reputation, regardless of how tall they are.
8. D.J. Augustin (5’11”)
(Keith Allison, DJ Augustin Magic, Cropped von BallAmazingly, CC BY-SA 2.0)
Just under 6-feet at 5-foot-eleven, 12-year veteran D.J. Augustin is still standing tall as Orlando’s back-up point guard, averaging 10.4 points and 4.6 assists.
Augustin has led a well-established NBA career having played for a variety of teams, including the Toronto Raptors, Chicago Bulls, Oklahoma City Thunder, and more, before finally residing with the Orlando Magic in 2016 until the present day.
He is one of 5 current NBA players to measure 5-foot-eleven, including Frank Mason from the Milwaukee Bucks and Carsen Edwards of the Celtics, but even amongst this group Augustin still sticks out at 32-years-old.
7. Nate Robinson (5’9″)
Having been the 21st overall pick by the Phoenix Suns, Nate Robinson started his NBA career in the 2005 NBA Draft and has since achieved astonishing records for a man of his size. At a height of 5-foot-9, Robinson is the NBA’s first three-time slam dunk champion, having won 2006, 2009, and 2010 Slam Dunk Contests.
In the 2006 Sprite Rising Stars Slam Dunk Contest, Robinson made a memorable dunk where he jumped over Spud Webb and scored a perfect 50-points. A fun fact was that he actually sought out personal dunk training from Webb in preparation for this same contest.
He also jumped over 6-foot-11 Dwight Howard to finish the final round in the 2009 Sprite Slam Dunk Contest. These impressive feats illustrate Robinson’s ability to perform like the best in a category that would naturally be seen as his weak point.
Looking at the rest of his NBA career, he’s played for various teams, most notably the Portland Trail Blazers, Boston Celtics, and the Chicago Bulls, and became one of the few Bulls to score at least 25 points and nine assists in a playoff game.
6. Isaiah Thomas (5’9″)
(Erik Drost, Isaiah Thomas (37663479056), Cropped by BallAmazingly, CC BY 2.0)
At 5-foot-9, Isaiah Thomas was selected in the second round of the 2011 NBA Draft as the 60th and final pick by the Sacramento Kings. He would go on to be the first player to win Rookie of the Month honors after being picked last in the NBA Draft, having won on March 1, 2012, and then again on April 2, 2012.
Already Thomas was showing signs of potential, despite weak indications during the draft. In 2014 he became the shortest player ever to record a triple-double in the NBA, which simply added to his collection of achievements, but it doesn’t stop there.
Thomas would continue to make great strides as a small player, having earned his spot as one of the players under 6-feet to average over 20 points per game and 6 assists per game in a season. He would also become the shortest contestant to participate in the NBA Skills Challenge, and tied with Calvin Murphy for the shortest player to be selected for the All-Star Game.
There’s no doubt he’s distinguished himself as the leading man for short guys, but even amongst regular players Thomas still holds a strong reputation. In 2017, he averaged 32.9 points in January, marking the third-highest monthly average in team history, and he led the NBA in scoring at 32.9 PPG for the month.
Most notably, he became a venerable Celtic, with events such as hitting six of his nine three-pointers in the fourth quarter and scoring 29 points, breaking the franchise record of 24 points in a quarter, as well as breaking John Havlicek’s team record with a franchise-record streak of 43 consecutive 20-point games.
5. Calvin Murphy (5’9″)
If you aren’t already familiar with Murphy, let me show you a quick video of the 1981 Finals Celtics vs. Rockets so that you can catch a glimpse at this man’s prowess in basketball.
At 5-foot-9, you wouldn’t expect Calvin Murphy to become the ultra-successful basketball player of his time, but he quickly turned that around. Murphy was drafted by the Houston Rockets as the 18th overall pick in the 1970 NBA Draft.
Everything went up from there, as Murphy would break multiple records while playing for the rockets for his entire thirteen-year NBA career. He became one of the best free-throw shooters ever, setting records for most consecutive free-throws at 78 and highest free throw percentage at 95.8 percent, both of which were achieved in a single season.
That’s an amazing feat to accomplish, and in-part his ability to shoot a basketball was what largely gave him so much authority in-game.
He even led the NBA twice in free throw percentage, and although these records have since been broken, he still ranks high amongst those records. What truly separates him as an all-time great is his title of shortest NBA player to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.
Murphy’s playstyle was also a defining characteristic of his as he was a very quick and defensive player, and that combined with his shooting capabilities helped grant him a spot in NBA History.
4. Anthony Jerome “Spud” Webb (5’7″)
(Diemheych, Anthony ‘Spud’ Webb, Cropped by BallAmazingly, CC BY-SA 4.0)
Webb is yet another legend in the field, and his most memorable accomplishment was his win over the 1986 Slam Dunk Contest against 6-foot-8 tall Dominique Wilkins no less.
Spud Webb, measuring 5-foot-7, is remembered for being the shortest person to compete in the NBA Slam Dunk Contest, with him and Nate Robinson being the only two people in NBA history under six feet tall to win a slam dunk contest.
What’s even funnier is that Webb caught both the media, as well as his teammate Wilkins who was then the defending dunk champion, by surprise with the news of his participation. However, in-game Webb showed off his athleticism by throwing down insanely impressive dunks.
Some of them include the elevator two-handed double-pump dunk, the off-the-backboard one-handed jam, a 360-degree helicopter one-handed dunk, and a reverse double-pump slam. His final dunk, the reverse two-handed strawberry jam from a lob bounce off the floor, ended the game with two perfect 50-point scores in the final round.
It was surprising to hear Webb’s commentary before the contest, saying that Wilkins had “never seen me dunk a basketball before.” Well, that quickly changed as Webb completely decimated Wilkins at his own game, showing everyone he knew how to dunk.
I would even go as far as to consider him to be one of the best dunkers of all time, simply based on the fact that he had an air-game that defied expectations. Due to this contest, Webb also became the shortest player to dunk in the history of professional basketball.
Looking at the rest of his career, Webb was a revered Atlanta Hawks player, having played 7 of his twelve seasons in Atlanta.
He also played for Sacramento Kings where he had a career-high 16.0 points and 7.1 assists per game in his first season, and he also led the NBA in free-throw percentages in his last season in Sacramento, shooting 93.4 percent in 1994-95.
3. Mel Hirsch (5’6″)
Mel Hirsch Professional Basketball Player
At 5-foot-6, Mel Hirsch was the shortest pro basketball player for more than 40 years. He played for the Boston Celtics back during the days of the NCAA and only played during the 1946-47 season. Although he lasted only one season with 13 games, his presence in the game would leave an impact on the game’s history.
His appearance in basketball added to the foundation of what would eventually become the NBA, and that means something.
2. Earl Boykins (5’5″)
(Keith Allison, BoykinsWizards, Cropped by BallAmazingly, CC BY-SA 2.0)
At 5-foot-5, Earl Boykins is the second-shortest player in league history, and watching him in-game helps illustrate how tiny he looks amongst the other players. He may however hold the title for lightest NBA player, weighing in at just 133 pounds.
Although never drafted by an NBA team, Boykins was signed to short-term contracts with multiple NBA teams. This gave him a 13-year career in the NBA where he most notably played for the Denver Nuggets and the Washington Wizards.
His longest contract was with the Nuggets, and in 2004 Boykins scored 32 points in a game of Nuggets vs. Pistons, making him the shortest player in NBA history to score 30 or more points in a game. With the Wizards, Boykins was a great replacement as the team’s point guard, clutching two free-throws in a game against the Milwaukee Bucks.
His performance clearly shows his ability to keep up with the game, and even if he is a few inches shorter than the national average and nearly an entire foot shorter than his competition, it didn’t seem to phase him.
1. Tyrone Curtis “Muggsy” Bogues (5’3″)
Of course, no list of the smallest players in the NBA would be complete without mentioning the phenom that is Muggsy Bogues. Here’s a quick video of him in action:
At 5-foot-3, Muggsy Bogues is the shortest player ever to play in the NBA, and along with this title, he can also be described as an amazingly talented athlete who was undisputably tough mentally. If you’ll notice in the video above, Muggsy was lightning quick with his two best qualities being his speed and energy.
Having such a small frame allowed him to be more nimble on the court, and he used that to his advantage when pinned against the tall basketball players.
Bogues was drafted 12th overall in the 1987 NBA Draft by the Washington Bullets and over the course of his 14-year career in the NBA, he would show his exceptional ability to both pass and steal, as well as being one of the fastest players on the court.
Muggsy averaged 7.7 PPG and a whopping 7.6 APG and blocked a total of 39 shots, including a shot from 7-foot-tall Patrick Ewing. Apparently, he even had a 44-inch vertical leap, which is crazy to think just how much vertical jump training he must’ve done to be able to jump that high.
With a vertical jump that high he actually gets pretty close to the highest recorded vertical jump, which was a 45.5″ vertical jump achieved by Kenny Gregory who was 6’6″. In a lot of ways Muggsy completely defied all logic, and it’s for this reason that he’s not just remembered as a small guy, but rather a real legend.
Conclusion
These were ten of the shortest basketball players in the NBA, and if there’s one thing these players have shown us, it’s that nothing is impossible. Even when you’re shorter than everyone else around you, you still have a shot at making it big time as a professional NBA player.
Of course, that’s a bit of an exaggerated statement, but these guys prove that you can really do just about anything if you care to put in the time and energy.
As previously stated these were not all of the players in the NBA who measure under 6-feet, but I tried to keep the list limited to just ten players. What did you think about the list? Would you have preferred to have seen other players being mentioned, and if so who?
Hopefully, after having learned a bit more about each of these players, you’ll see that size in basketball isn’t what decides greatness and that your performance while playing is what’ll really determine your ability to win.
Who knows, in the future, we may see an even shorter person join the list.
