Tallest Player in NBA History: Gheorghe Muresan

Gheorge Muresan is the tallest player in NBA history

You ever have those moments where you think you’re right, but Google proves you horribly wrong? That’s how Gheorghe Muresan came into my life.

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In fact… this was my real-time reaction to seeing his name.

I’ve always thought Manute Bol was the tallest player in NBA history, but that’s entirely incorrect.

Gheorghe Muresan is a Romanian born center whom is listed at 7 feet 7.5 inches (2.324 m) and 325 lbs. In other words, if you’re in a bar fight he’s first overall pick.

Muresan lead the league in field goal percentage twice in his career. I mean… I’d also lead the league if I could drop a basketball straight down into the hoop. He has 3,020 career points, a .573 career field goal percentage and 1,957 career rebounds.

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For the most part, people consider Muresan a bust. He had a nagging back injury that cut his career to just six seasons. He missed a full season in 1997, and only played 31 games after that.

Muresan played for the Washington Bullets and New Jersey Nets over his career, made several late night show appearances and really didn’t have any sort of career accolades.

Don’t worry though, he did have an illustrious movie career. He starred in the classic sports flick “My Giant.”

Oh, you don’t remember “My Giant”? Yeah, ME EITHER.

It was an awful quirky comedy starring Muresan and Billy Crystal. Can you tell how little of an NBA career he had now? It was pretty awful.

I’m going to go on a rant right here…he was the tallest player in NBA history...HOW WAS THIS GUY SO USELESS?!

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Six NBA seasons, and all he has to show for it is leading the league in field goal percentage twice. I’m pretty sure the kid from “Like Mike” had a more illustrious career than that, and he was 14 years old.

So I decided to do some research, and wow… this guy was something out of a fairy tale.

I found something remarkable in my deep search. Gheorghe’s former teammate Rex Chapman has an incredible story about the big man.

Apparently, they were both… and how do I put this… HAMMERED at a Christmas party, when Chapman asked Muresan how to say Santa Claus in Romanian.

Muresan told him that it’s, “Moş Crăciun”, and Champman asked him to sing the song “Here Comes Santa Claus.”

Except, he had to replace Santa Claus with Moş Crăciun.

Now paint the picture of a seven foot Romanian man, drunkenly singing a Christmas ballad in broken English and replacing Santa Claus with Moş Crăciun.

Is that not absolutely hilarious to any of you?

That Christmas party must have been the greatest thing ever.

Another fun fact about Gheorghe is that his parents were comically short for his height. His mom was 5’7″ and his dad was 5’9″. Hilarious.

It’s so funny. My parents are 6’3″ and 5’2″, and I think I had a better shot at being 7’7″ by those standards.

I mean… do Muresan family pictures need to be taken from 300 feet away?

Seriously, it’s absurd.

Oh and let’s not forget Muresan’s Snickers cologne campaign.

This guy is walking content.

The double hand guns had me absolutely dying. Plus Gheorghe saying that chicks dig the smell of cabbage is one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard.

Also, a sneaky part of this whole things is that they have zero items sold.

Muresan’s son is a poised player for the Georgetown Hoyas, and is believed to have a decent skill set compared to his dad.

…. Considering his dad’s skill set was being tall.

George Muresan is a walk-on entering his junior year, and he appeared in six games last season for the Hoyas. He is probably thrilled that his 6’9″ frame isn’t getting him any comparisons to his father.

Gheorghe Muresan is almost like a figment of my imagination. Think about all of the things he could’ve done, instead he was done after just six years in the league.

Long story short, this guy had almost no NBA career, but was one of the best personalities I’ve ever seen. Yeah, he was very underwhelming for his size but wow was he overwhelming in personality.

So, Gheorghe Muresan was the tallest player in NBA history, and he did virtually nothing with it.

But by comparison to some of the other tall freaks, like Chuck Nevitt, he had a good NBA career.

What he did do was bring happiness into the hearts of people everywhere, and help us realize that cabbage is one of the most sensual vegetables ever.

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