Top 10 Tallest Female Basketball Players in WNBA History
Who are the tallest female basketball players ever? WNBA star Brittney Griner doesn’t even crack the top-three in league history.
Tallest Female Basketball Players in the history of WNBA
The tallest female basketball players have an outstanding chance to contribute in the WNBA, where height can be a distinct advantage. While the NBA is full of seven-footers, the majority of women's professional basketball players don’t stand more than a few inches north of six feet.
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There have been 25 seasons in WNBA history. Most of the women who are among the tallest female basketball players ever hail from outside of the United States. A few of them are still active in the league and playing at an All-Star level.
Who are the tallest WNBA players ever?
List of the Tallest Female Basketball WNBA Players
The 10 tallest women to play in the WNBA have all been at least 6’8'' tall, according to the league’s official website. Only three female basketball players have stood at 6’10” or above.
1. Malgorzata Dydek – Height: 7’2”
Dydek is the tallest basketball player in WNBA history by a good margin. The only seven-footer to ever play for a WNBA team, Dydek was a native of Poland and the first overall pick in the 1998 draft. While playing for three different franchises, Dydek became the league’s all-time record holder with 877 blocks. Dydek died in 2011 at just 37 years old, three years after the conclusion of her 11-year WNBA career.
2. Bernadett Hatar – Height: 6’10”
Being one of the tallest women’s basketball players of all time hasn’t translated into much success in the WNBA for Hatar. With a height of nearly 6’11”, the female basketball star only played in seven games during the 2021 WNBA season for the Indiana Fever. The Hungarian basketball player didn’t make her WNBA debut until she was 26 years old. In 2018, Hatar took her team to the EuroLeague finals.
3. Han Xu – Height: 6’10”
Xu is the tallest female basketball player that’s currently active and the third-tallest player in WNBA history. Because she’s from China and stands taller than any other player in the league, Xu has been referred to as the female Yao Ming. Xu was drafted by the New York Liberty in 2019 but missed two seasons because of the pandemic. She was selected as part of the All-Star Five at the 2022 FIBA Women's World Cup.
4. Brittney Griner – Height: 6’9”
Before being detained in Russia for nearly 10 months, Griner established herself as one of the greatest female basketball players ever. Standing at 6’9” tall, Griner’s shoe size is a 17 in men’s sneakers. Griner’s height and athleticism have allowed her to be a dominant force in the WNBA. In nine WNBA seasons, Griner is an eight-time All-Star and has also led the league in blocks eight times. Griner has been one of the most famous women’s athletes in the United States since playing at Baylor, where she was recognized as the nation’s best female college basketball player in her last two seasons.
5. Liz Cambage – Height: 6’9”
Cambage’s height makes her one of the five tallest female basketball players in WNBA history. On July 17, 2018, Cambage set the WNBA single-game scoring record with 53 points. She led the league with 23.0 points per game that season. Cambage has been an All-Star with four different WNBA teams. Since going second overall to the Tulsa Shock in the 2011 WNBA Draft, Cambage has been one of the best female basketball players around.
6. Maria Stepanova – Height: 6’8”
Stepanova just missed the cut for the fifth-tallest WNBA player ever. She played for the Phoenix Mercury from 1998-2001. After a lengthy hiatus from the WNBA, Stepanova returned to Phoenix for the 2005 season, during which she averaged career highs of 10.8 points and 2.5 blocks per game. Stepanova won the FIBA Europe Women's Player of the Year Award three times. She’s one of many female basketball players who experienced much of their on-court success away from the WNBA.
7. Lindsay Taylor – Height: 6’8”
Among the 10 tallest players in WNBA history, no woman played fewer games in the league than Taylor. As a rookie in 2004, Taylor appeared in five games for the Mercury. Taylor never suited up for a WNBA team again in the regular season. After failing to make it in the WNBA, Taylor played professional basketball overseas for more than a decade. Taylor as a second-round pick after being named the Big West Player of the Year at UC Santa Barbara.
8. Razija Brcaninovic – Height: 6’8”
Maybe Brcaninovic would’ve been a bigger star in the WNBA if the women’s basketball league started a decade earlier. Born in Serbia 30 years before the WNBA’s first season, Brcaninovic only played one year in the league. Brcaninovic averaged 9.1 points and 5.1 rebounds in 30 games for the Detroit Shock in 1998. Despite her height, Brcaninovic averaged fewer than one block per game. Brcaninovic put up 25 points in the second-to last game of her WNBA career,
9. Zheng Haixia – Height: 6’8”
During the league’s inaugural 1997 season, Haixia was both the heaviest and the tallest player in the WNBA. Standing at 6’8,” and weighing 254 pounds, Haixia had at least three inches and 29 pounds on every other female basketball player. Haixia played two seasons for the Los Angeles Sparks, averaging 8.9 points and 4.4 rebounds per game.
10. Katie Mattera – Height: 6’8”
Mattera is one of tallest women ever to be born in the United States and play in the WNBA. The No. 8 overall pick in the 2005 WNBA Draft, Mattera averaged 6.7 points in 150 career games. Her WNBA career ended in 2009 after stints with the San Antonio Silver Stars, Detroit Shock, Atlanta Dream and Chicago Sky. Mattera was terrific in college at Liberty, where she was the tallest woman to ever play in the Big South Conference and twice led the nation in field goal percentage.
Tallest NBA Players Ever
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the tallest female players of all time don’t even compare to the tallest NBA players. Gheorghe Mureșan and Manute Bol are the tallest NBA players in history at 7'7". Three players who have suited up for an NBA game were exactly six inches short of being eight-feet tall.
There has only been one-seven footer in WNBA history. At any given time in the NBA, close to 20 seven-footers could be on a roster. The average height of an NBA player for the 2022-2023 season is north of 6’7”.
Some of the greatest NBA players in history are as tall as any woman to put on a WNBA uniform. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is 7’2” and won a record six NBA MVP awards. At 7’1”, Wilt Chamberlain was so dominant around that basket that the league was forced to make certain rules changes. Shaquille O’Neal also stood above seven-feet tall.
Tallest Woman Ever
There has been a female who had the same height as the tallest NBA players of all time, but she didn’t make a career out of professional basketball. Sandy Allen was 7’7” and lived to be 53 years old. Recognized by the Guinness World Records as the tallest woman in the world, Allen died in Indiana in 2008. There was even a book written about her life called “Cast a Giant Shadow: The Inspirational Life Story of Sandy Allen ‘The World's Tallest Living Woman.’”
If Dydek were still alive, she would currently be the world’s tallest living woman. Rumeysa Gelgi, a woman in her mid-20s from Turkey who stands just above seven-feet tall, is believed to hold that distinction. In February 2022, the Guinness World Records verified that Gelgi has the longest finger, largest hands and the longest back on any living female.
Because of the difficulties presented by her height, Gelgi uses a wheelchair to get around. It makes the athletic prowess of the tallest WNBA NBA players seem even more impressive.
Importance of Height in Basketball
The list of the best players in WNBA history is largely comprised of guards and forwards. Lisa Leslie, arguably the greatest center who ever played in the WNBA, is only 6’5” and isn’t one of the tallest women’s basketball players in recent years.
Both the WNBA and NBA are proof that too much height might present basketball players with a disadvantage. Mureșan and Bol found a measure of success in the league, but neither center ever reached an All-Star level. Most recently 7’6” Tacko Fall has struggled to stay in the NBA, spending most of his time in the G League. Without top-tier athleticism and the ability to shoot jump shots, female and male basketball players have a difficult time staying in the league these days.
Of course, there are exceptions to the rule. Griner is one of the five tallest female basketball players ever and is set to go down as one of the most accomplished WNBA stars of all time. Yao Ming was an eight-time NBA All-Star at 7’6” and was selected to the Basketball Hall of Fame.
Xu averaged 8.5 points and 3.6 rebounds per game in the 2022 WNBA season. The next five tallest basketball players all averaged more than 10.0 points per game in 2022. Sylvia Fowles, the WNBA’s top rebounder for the last year, stands at 6’6”. Former No. 1 overall draft pick and two-time WNBA MVP A'ja Wilson led the league in blocks at 6’4”.
WNBA FAQs
Who is the tallest player in WNBA history?
Malgorzata Dydek is the tallest WNBA player of all time at 7’2”
Who is the tallest WNBA player right now?
Han Xu was the tallest player on a WNBA roster in 2022 at 6 '10".
What is the average height of a woman in the WNBA?
The average height for a WNBA player is about six-feet tall.
Who is the shortest WNBA player ever?
Shannon Bobbitt is 5’2” and the shortest player in WNBA history.
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