{"id":518,"date":"2020-01-01T16:14:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-01T16:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bestmensmag.com\/?p=518"},"modified":"2021-11-29T19:05:10","modified_gmt":"2021-11-29T19:05:10","slug":"the-shortest-nba-players-of-all-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beardymag.com\/the-shortest-nba-players-of-all-time\/","title":{"rendered":"The Shortest NBA Players of All Time"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Source: dailyprogress.com<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Height is definitely an important consideration in the NBA. Professional basketball leagues around the world often favor those that are larger than life to players of average height. But this isn’t always the case – there have been several short players (shorter than 6 feet) that have rocked the court and stolen the heart of fans across the US. Here are five of the shortest basketball players to ever grace the NBA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keith Jennings (1992-95) 5 feet 7 inches<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Keith \u201cMister\u201d Jennings never considered his lack of height as an obstacle in his pursuit to becoming an NBA player. He joined the league as an undrafted agent and signed with Golden State Warriors where he played for three years before getting involved in a series of European clubs. He ultimately retired from pro basketball, and now he spends his time coaching high school players. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greg Grant(1990-96) 5 feet 7 inches<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Source: sportskeeda.com<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Greg Grant retired in the 1995-96 season as a member of the Washington Bullets (now Wizards). The 5-foot-7-inch point guard was involved in the league and CBL teams throughout his 9-year career as a pro baller. He was discovered in 1986 playing in a local basketball court and enrolled in Trenton State College where he became the top scorer in the Division III program his junior year. He was drafted in the second round by the Phoenix Suns. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mel Hirsch (1946-47) 5 feet 6 inches<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Mel held the record for being the shortest NBA player of history for a solid 40 years before Boykins and Bogues came into the picture. Despite losing the 1941 title to Manhattan College, the New York Times commended his athleticism and performance on the court, and the 5-foot-6 guard played for the Boston Celtics for one year, averaging 20% in field goals in 13 games. He retired after his rookie season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earl Boykins (1999-2012) 5 feet 5 inches<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Earl Boykins retired in 2012 wearing a Houston Rockets jersey after jumping from team to team and even spending one season playing for an Italian team. He wasn\u2019t drafted into the NBA but decided to sign short-term deals with numerous teams before playing four seasons with the Denver Nuggets. His love for basketball developed at an early age where his father would sneak him into adult recreational centers in his duffle bag. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Muggsy Bogues (1987-2001) 5 feet 3 inches<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Source: theshadowleague.com<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Muggsy Bogues, the shortest player to ever play professionally in the NBA, was drafted as a joke. The 5-foot-3 point guard was drafted by the Washington Bullets to play alongside the monstrous 7-foot-7 Manute Bol, but he immediately showed that his game wasn\u2019t a joke. Despite being the shortest man EVER in the NBA, he racked up an impressive 39 blocks in his 14-year stint in the league. He ended his career as a Dallas Maverick despite not playing a single game for them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Height is definitely an important consideration in the NBA. Professional basketball leagues around the world often favor those that are larger than life to players of average height. But this isn’t always the case – there have been several short players (shorter than 6 feet) that have rocked the court and stolen the heart of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":588,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[33,35,34],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beardymag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beardymag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beardymag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beardymag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beardymag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=518"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/beardymag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5138,"href":"https:\/\/beardymag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518\/revisions\/5138"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beardymag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beardymag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beardymag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beardymag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}