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Earl Boykins Bucks photo by Keith Allison –

15 Shortest but Awesome Basketball Players in the History of the NBA

You might think that for one to play in the NBA, he must be tall. Surprisingly, that is not true and there isn’t a set height restriction for playing professionally. Although being taller helps, the NBA is more interested in a player’s skill and playability. There are a lot of individuals who are under six feet tall and can make gains rather quickly. These athletes later proved to the world that their height did not hinder their ability to compete at their highest level.

Many shorter basketball players have been motivated to pursue their professional basketball goals by these athletes and others. They have demonstrated that a player’s height shouldn’t be a determining factor in their success and that everything can be accomplished with hard effort, ability, and perseverance. Here are the 15 shortest but most awesome basketball players in the history of the NBA.

1. Muggsy Bogues

Wake Forest college basketball player Tyrone “Muggsy” Bogues attempting a layup during a 1985 game. photo by Wake Forest University-

American retired basketball player Tyrone Curtis “Muggsy” Bogues is the shortest player ever to compete in the NBA. Standing at 5 feet 3 inches (1.60 meters), Bogues played point guard for four different clubs during his 14-year NBA career. He played for the Washington Bullets, Golden State Warriors, and Toronto Raptors, but is most remembered for his ten seasons with the Charlotte Hornets. In six consecutive seasons (1989-1995), Bogues finished in the top seven in assists and the top ten in steals. His NBA double-double total was 146. 

Read more about the 15 Tallest Basketball Players of All Time.

2. Earl Boykins

Earl Boykins Bucks photo by Keith Allison –

Earl Antoine Boykins is a retired professional basketball player from the United States. He is the NBA’s second-shortest player, standing at 5 feet 5 inches (1.65 m). He was the head coach of the boys’ varsity basketball team at Douglas County High School. He is now an assistant coach for the Miners at the University of Texas at El Paso. He finished his career with 5,791 points (8.9 ppg), 877 rebounds (1.3 RPG), and 2092 assists (3.2 apg).

3. Mel Hirsch

Mel Hirsch on right during WWII with the 13th Troop Carrier Squadron on Biak photo by U.S. Army Air Corps –

 Melvin M. Hirsch was an American professional basketballer from the USA. For 13 games in the 1946鈥�1947 season, he was a member of the Boston Celtics of the Basketball Association of America, which would later morph into the National Basketball Association.

After Earl Boykins and Bogues, he stands at 5 feet 6 inches, making him the third-shortest NBA player of all time. Hirsch, a star athlete at Brooklyn College, graduated in 1943 and joined the US Army Air Corps. He was a member of the squadron’s officer’s basketball team.

4. Spud Webb

One on One basketball exhibition at Melbourne Olympic Park photo by Diemheych – Wikimedia commons

Despite being one of the shortest players in NBA history listed at 5 feet 6 inches (168 cm), Anthony Jerome “Spud” Webb played in the NBA league and is famous for winning a Slam Dunk Contest. Webb scored 22 points in his first game. When he was 5 ft 3 in (1.60 m) tall, he was able to slam dunk the ball.

He played for the junior varsity team at Wilmer-Hutchins High School and had a significant impact; as a senior, he averaged 26 points per game for the varsity team. With 8,072 (9.9 ppg) career points, 1742 rebounds, and 4342 assists, he was a successful player.

5. Greg Grant

Gregory Alan Grant played professionally in basketball for the Phoenix Suns before retiring. Grant worked in a fish market while in high school before being discovered at the local playground. The point guard, who stands 5’7″ (1.70 m) tall, began his studies at Trenton State College, now known as The College of New Jersey, or TCN, in 1986. In 1989, he topped Division III in scoring.

He was taken by the Phoenix Suns with the 52nd overall pick in the NBA Draft that same year. He participated in the NBA for nine years, representing six different teams.

6. Keith Jennings

Keith Jennings previously played professionally in the NBA and European leagues. Jennings, a 5’7″ (1.70 m) tall point guard, was a second-team consensus All-American in 1991 and received the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award, presented to the greatest collegiate senior six feet tall and less. He also topped the NCAA Division I in three-point field goal percentage that year, shooting 59%.

Jennings was not selected in the 1991 NBA draft and began his career as an undrafted free agent. He played in 164 games for the Golden State Warriors (1992-95), averaging 6.6 points and 3.7 assists in 18.0 minutes per game. Although the Toronto Raptors chose him in the 1995 expansion draft, he never played for them.

7. Red Klotz

Louis “Red” Klotz, a point guard for the original Baltimore Bullets in the NBA, is best known for playing for the Washington Generals and the New York Nationals, two teams that competed against and toured with the Harlem Globetrotters. During his eight decades and more than 100 nations’ worth of professional basketball, Klotz coached or participated in more than 14,000 games.

In the 1940s, Klotz participated in basketball with the South Philadelphia Hebrew Association of the ABL as a point guard. Up until 1947, he was a member of the Sphas. Klotz played during the 1948 season on the Baltimore Bullets team, the year they won the Basketball Association of America championship. He is the shortest player to play on a championship squad and is tied for fourth-shortest at 5 feet 7 inches (1.70 m) tall.

8. Wataru Misaka

University of Utah basketball player Wat Misaka in 1948 photo sourced from

Wataru Misaka was a professional basketball player from the United States. He was the first non-white player and the first player of Asian origin to play in the NBA, then known as the Basketball Association of America. He was a 5-foot-7-inch (1.70 m) point guard of Japanese descent.

Misaka was a Utah Utes basketball player who led the team to NCAA and NIT championships in 1944 and 1947. In 1999, Misaka was admitted to the Utah Sports Hall of Fame. During the 1947-48 season, Misaka featured in several games for the New York Knicks.

9. Monte Towe

North Carolina State Wolfpack basketball guard Monte Towe from the 1974 鈥淎gromeck鈥� yearbook. photo sourced from

Monte Towe is a retired basketball player who was a starting point guard on the 1973鈥�74 North Carolina State Wolfpack men’s basketball team. The squad captured the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship. Towe ranks among the ten shortest players in NBA history at five feet seven inches.

On June 17, 1975, Towe and David Thompson, both NC State teammates, signed with Denver under head coach Larry Brown. In 1976, the last year of the American Basketball Association, and in 1976鈥�1977, the year Denver joined the National Basketball Association, he was a member of the Nuggets.

Read more: Victor Wembanyama’s Height: How Tall is the New Basketball Star? 

10. Charlie Criss

American college basketball player Charlie Criss of New Mexico State University during the 1969-70 season photo sourced from

Charles Criss entered the NBA as the league’s shortest player. Criss, a guard who stood 5’8″, started his professional basketball career in the Continental Basketball Association. He won league MVP honours with the Scranton Apollos in 1976 before moving on to play with the Washington Generals.

He signed on with the National Basketball Association’s Atlanta Hawks, where he spent eight seasons playing for the Hawks, San Diego Clippers, and Milwaukee Bucks. Criss averaged 3.2 assists in addition to 8.5 points each game.

11. Dino Martin

When Donald “Dino” Martin was a professional basketball player, his height was 5 feet 8 inches (1.73 meters). He attended La Salle Academy and graduated. From 1939 to 1942, he was a forward for the Georgetown Hoyas. His senior season saw him average 6.6 points per game and 4.3 points per game overall.

From 1946 to 1948, he was a member of the Providence Steamrollers of the Basketball Association of America, the precursor to the National Basketball Association. In his first season, he scored 12.2 points on average per game, but in his second and last seasons, he only averaged 3.2.

12. Willie Somerset

Willard Somerset is a former NBA player who stood 5’8″ and played guard during his career. Somerset averaged 5.6 points per game in eight games for the Baltimore Bullets during the 1965-1966 NBA season. From 1967 to 1969, he averaged 22.8 points in 135 games with the Houston Mavericks and New York Nets in the American Basketball Association. Somerset was an All-Star in the 1968-69 ABA season, ranking fifth in the league in points per game, eighth in assists per game, and third in free throw percentage.

13. Charles Hoefer 

Charles Hoefer was 5 feet 9 inches tall (1.75 m). He was a point guard who played in the Basketball Association of America for two seasons, beginning in 1946 with the Toronto Huskies before being traded to the Boston Celtics. He attended Queens College and played most of his professional basketball with the Wilmington Bombers in the American Basketball League.

14. Calvin Murphy

The greatest NBA little man of ALL TIME Calvin Murphy photo by callipygian2005 –

After a successful college career at Niagara, where he averaged 33.1 points per game over three years, Calvin Murphy played guard with the San Diego/Houston Rockets in the National Basketball Association from 1970 to 1983. Murphy is the shortest NBA player to be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and to play in an NBA All-Star Game, standing at 5 feet 9 inches (1.75 m) tall.

15. Ralph O’Brien

Ralph O’Brien was a professional basketball player who played for two seasons in the NBA. O’Brien, who stood 5’9″, was a point guard for the Indianapolis Olympians and Baltimore Bullets in the National Basketball Association from 1951 to 1953. In his NBA career, O’Brien averaged 7.1 points per game. For more than a half-century in the 1990s, O’Brien was the last Butler player to appear in an NBA game.

Check out: the 5 Tallest NBA Basketball Players of all time.