It's often assumed that the greatest basketball players inherit their height from towering parents.
Moses Malone
Moses Malone
Position: C, PF
Age: 70
Height: 208 cm
Weight: 118 kg
Birth place: Virginia, United States of America
But reality proves otherwise – there are NBA players with short parents who still grew into exceptional tall athletes.
From All-Stars to Hall of Famers, here are 10 shocking cases of NBA players who ended up significantly taller than their parents, including a height breakdown for each family.
LeBron James – 6'9" (206 cm)
LeBron James with Luka Doncic
LeBron James with Luka Doncic
Credit Getty Images/Scanpix
Parents' Height: Father unknown; Mother ~5'5" (165 cm).
Standing at 6'8", LeBron James is an imposing presence on the court. His height is even more remarkable given that his mother, Gloria Marie James, is just 5'5".
Little is known about the height of LeBron's father, Anthony McClelland, though it is widely believed he was not particularly tall either.
LeBron's exceptional stature appears to be more a matter of chance than genetics. At age 11, he stood around 5'7"–already well above average for his age–and was told by a doctor that he would likely grow to 6'3".
By his freshman year of high school, LeBron had already grown to 6'5" and immediately became a standout on his varsity team.
He added another two inches by his junior year, cementing his status as a top prospect and eventually becoming only the second player ever to be drafted first overall straight out of high school.
Victor Wembanyama – 7'5" (226 cm)
Victor Wembanyama shooting over Bam Adebayo
Victor Wembanyama shooting over Bam Adebayo
Credit AP - Scanpix
Parents' Height: Father ~6'6" (198 cm); Mother ~6'3" (190.5 cm).
Victor Wembanyama wasn't born to short parents, but even they likely couldn't have predicted he would reach an astonishing 7'5", making him the tallest active player in the NBA.
His father, Felix Wembanyama, stands 6'6" and competed in track and field, while his mother, Elodie de Fautereau, is 6'3" and played basketball for the French national team.
Based on genetics alone, a typical height range for a child of a 6'6" father and a 6'3" mother would fall somewhere between 6'3" and 6'9".
Wembanyama surpassing that range by nearly a whole foot is extraordinary. To put it into perspective, it would be like parents who are 5'3" and 5'6" having a son who grows to 6'4".
The scale of Victor's physical outlier status becomes even clearer when looking at his siblings. His younger brother, Oscar Wembanyama, was already an impressive 6'6" at age 15–yet Victor stood around 7'2" at the same age.
His older sister, Eve Wembanyama, is 6'1" and also a competitive basketball player, reinforcing just how exceptional Victor's growth truly is.
Michael Jordan – 6'6" (198 cm)
Michael Jordan with his teammates
Michael Jordan with his teammates
Credit ZUMAPRESS.com-Scanpix
Parents' Height: Father ~5'10" (178 cm); Mother ~5'5" (165 cm).
Even the greatest basketball player of all time didn't come from a family of giants.
Michael Jordan's dad was roughly 5'10" and his mom 5'5", meaning young Mike had no guarantees of extraordinary height.
In fact, as a 5'8" sophomore, Jordan famously failed to make his varsity team due in part to his height.
Desperate to grow taller, he tried old-school tricks: he would hang from playground pull-up bars and even put salt in his shoes at night, as his mother advised, praying for a growth spurt.
Incredibly, nature delivered. Jordan grew to about 5'11" by the end of sophomore year, then miraculously jumped to 6'3" the following summer.
He ultimately reached 6'6" as a senior, towering over his parents and siblings. This late growth spurt was pivotal – it transformed a kid of average height into a high-flying phenom.
MJ would later joke that perhaps the "milkman" was 6'7", poking fun at how he defied his genetics. All jokes aside, Jordan's story shows that an NBA player's parents' height isn't destiny.
Russell Westbrook – 6'3" (191 cm)
Russell Westbrook with Nikola Jokic
Russell Westbrook with Nikola Jokic
Credit USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect-Scanpix
Parents' Height: Father ~5'8" (173 cm); Mother ~5'7" (170 cm).
Explosive on the court and taller than both his parents, Russell Westbrook is another outlier. Westbrook's dad stands at 5'8" and his mom at 5'7", yet Russell grew to 6'3".
In high school, he was only 5'8" as a freshman and initially struggled to get noticed by scouts due to his size.
Then came a major growth spurt: by his senior year, Westbrook had shot up about five inches, reaching his current height by the time he entered UCLA.
Westbrook's case shows how unpredictable height inheritance can be. His NBA career triple-double averages and MVP award might never have materialized if he had stayed at his parents' stature.
Thankfully, a lucky genetic draw turned him into the dynamic 6'3" playmaker we know today.
Jeremy Lin – 6'3" (191 cm)
Jeremy Lin with Carmelo Anthony
Jeremy Lin with Carmelo Anthony
Credit AP - Scanpix
Parents' Height: Father ~5'6" (168 cm); Mother ~5'6" (168 cm).
Despite modest genes, Jeremy Lin shot up to 6-foot-3 and became an NBA sensation. Both of Lin's parents are around 5'6", so as a teen, he feared he'd never be tall enough for pro basketball.
At 15 years old, Lin stood just 5'3" and even jokingly blamed his dad's height for it. Fortunately, he experienced a late growth spurt, reaching 6'3" in adulthood – an entire foot taller than he was at 15.
Lin later apologized to his father for the height blame, as genetics surprised them both. Interestingly, Jeremy's maternal grandmother had tall stature in her family (her father was over 6'0"), which may have been the hidden source of his height genes.
In the end, Lin's height advantage helped fuel the phenomenon of "Linsanity," proving that even with short parents, an NBA dream was still within reach.
Gordon Hayward – 6'8" (203 cm)
Gordon Hayward with Jaylen Brown
Gordon Hayward with Jaylen Brown
Credit AFP – Scanpix
Parents' Height: Father ~5'10" (178 cm); Mother ~5'10" (178 cm).
Gordon Hayward's journey is a tale of an unexpected late growth that defied all predictions. Both of Hayward's parents are about 5'10", pretty average in height.
As a high school freshman, Gordon himself was only 5'11", and doctors predicted he might top out at 6'2" at most.
With that outlook, young Hayward geared his training toward guard skills – ball-handling, shooting, passing – assuming he wouldn't have the size of a forward.
Fate had other plans. Hayward experienced a significant growth spurt in his last two years of high school, rising to about 6'7" by senior year and eventually reaching 6'8".
Wilt Chamberlain – 7'1" (216 cm)
Wilt Chamberlain with Bill Russell
Wilt Chamberlain with Bill Russell
Credit pintereset.com
Parents' Height: Father ~5'8" (173 cm); Mother ~5'9" (175 cm).
Wilt Chamberlain, one of the NBA's greatest centers at 7'1", came from fairly average-stature parents. His father, William, was about 5'8" and his mother, Olivia, was 5'9".
No one in Wilt's immediate family was anywhere near his height – an incredible fact given that Wilt literally towered over the league.
According to family lore, Wilt's maternal grandfather was a farmer who stood around 7'0", suggesting the height gene skipped a generation or two before manifesting in Wilt.
Certainly, Wilt hit the genetic jackpot. He was reportedly six feet tall by age 10, and about 6'11" when he entered high school.
At such a height at a young age, Chamberlain dominated youth sports and never stopped growing, eventually surpassing seven feet. By the time he reached the NBA, he was a once-in-a-lifetime physical specimen.
Gheorghe Muresan – 7'7" (231 cm)
Gheorghe Muresan with Caron Butler
Gheorghe Muresan with Caron Butler
Credit REUTERS - Scanpix
Parents' Height: Father ~5'9" (175 cm); Mother ~5'7" (170 cm).
Tied for the tallest player in NBA history, Gheorghe Muresan stands at an enormous 7'7".
Incredibly, he did not inherit this height from his parents – his father is 5'9" and his mother 5'7", both quite average by any standard.
Muresan's extreme height was the result of a pituitary gland condition during his youth, which caused abnormal growth.
In contrast to Muresan, many other NBA giants had very tall parents – for instance, fellow 7'7" star Manute Bol's mother was 6'10" and father 6'8".
That makes Muresan's case all the more exceptional. He essentially grew into a giant due to a rare condition rather than genetics.
By age 14, Gheorghe was already around 7 feet tall and was encouraged to take up basketball because of his height.
He went on to become a beloved figure for the Washington Bullets in the 1990s. Though injuries cut his career short, Muresan did secure an NBA Most Improved Player award and even a bit of Hollywood fame (remember his movie "My Giant").
Tacko Fall – 7'6" (229 cm)
Tacko Fall with coach Monty Williams
Tacko Fall with coach Monty Williams
Credit AFP – Scanpix
Parents' Height: Father ~6'0" (183 cm); Mother ~5'8" (173 cm).
At an astounding 7'6", Tacko Fall is among the tallest human beings to ever play professional basketball.
One would assume such height came from exceptionally tall parents or a medical condition, but neither is true in Tacko's case.
His dad is a solid but unremarkable 6 feet tall, and his mom is 5'8" – tall for the average person, but nowhere near what you'd expect for producing a 7'6" giant.
Unlike many ultra-tall players, Tacko does not have a pituitary gland disorder or gigantism. In fact, doctors gave him a clean bill of health; his extraordinary height appears to come from natural genetic variation.
He even has two uncles who are 6'8", and one of his younger brothers was a towering 5'9" by age 7.
So, while Tacko's parents' heights don't explain 7'6", there were tall genes in the family tree that manifested strongly in him.
Boban Marjanovic – 7'4" (224 cm)
Boban Marjanovic shooting over Rudy Gobert
Boban Marjanovic shooting over Rudy Gobert
Credit AP - Scanpix
Parents' Height: Father ~5'9" (175 cm); Mother ~5'6" (168 cm).
Serbian big man Boban Marjanovic is known for his imposing 7'3"-7'4" stature and gigantic hands, yet his mom and dad are of ordinary size.
In an interview, Boban revealed that his father is about 5'9" and his mother roughly 5'6", truly underscoring the gene lottery at play.
Clearly, Boban's extreme height didn't come from his parents' build. Instead, medical experts believe he exhibits signs of acromegaly, a condition where excess growth hormone causes continued growth of bones and features.
In other words, a pituitary gland peculiarity likely contributed to Boban becoming a 7'4" giant. By his early teens, Marjanovic was already exceptionally tall (around 6'10" by age 14).
His unusual growth did come with some hallmark features – for example, his hands are so massive that he holds an unofficial record for hand size in the NBA.
Moses Malone – 6'10" (208 cm)
Moses Malone with Julius Erving
Moses Malone with Julius Erving
Credit AP – Scanpix
Parents' Height: Father ~5'6" (168 cm); Mother ~5'2" (157 cm).
Three-time NBA MVP Moses Malone is a classic example of a towering athlete born to very short parents. Moses stood 6'10", while his dad was only 5'6" and his mom was just 5'2".
This extreme height gap – roughly a two-foot difference between Malone and his mother – is almost hard to fathom.
The family genetics did manifest in one way, though: Moses notably had small hands for his size, likely an inherited trait from his mother.
In fact, his hands were so small relative to his 6'10" frame that it affected his grip on the ball.
But instead of hindering him, it fueled his work ethic; Malone put in extra training to ensure his rebounding and inside game remained dominant.
He proved his doubters wrong by going straight from high school to the pros, becoming the first player ever to jump directly to professional basketball. Once in the ABA/NBA, he became the most ferocious offensive rebounder the game had seen.
Wondering who the shortest NBA players are?
Nojus Stankevičius
Nojus Stankevičius began his basketball writing journey in 2023, when he started studying Journalism at Vilnius University. In 2024, he participated in the BasketNews Academy. Then, a year later, in 2025, he officially joined BasketNews as a Daily Writer, marking the beginning of his professional career in sports journalism.
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