In a league dominated by seven-footers, one question has always fascinated basketball fans: just how short can you be and still survive — and thrive — in the NBA? The answer might surprise you. From a 5‘3” point guard who terrorized the league for 14 seasons to a Japanese rookie who turned heads at the 2024 Paris Olympics, the history of the shortest NBA players is a story about IQ over inches, quickness over wingspan, and pure, stubborn will.
This is a ranked look at the shortest players ever to play in the NBA, what made each of them special, and why their stories still matter to every undersized kid who’s been told they’re too small to make it.
Shortest Players in NBA History, Ranked
1. Muggsy Bogues — 5’3
There is a record that has stood since 1987 and shows no sign of falling: Tyrone “Muggsy” Bogues, at 5 feet 3 inches, is the shortest player in NBA history. He wasn’t just a novelty act, either. The Washington D.C. native was drafted 12th overall by the Washington Bullets in the 1987 NBA Draft — ahead of players who would go on to have far less impressive careers.
Bogues spent the bulk of his career with the Charlotte Hornets, where he became the franchise’s all-time leader in both assists (5,557) and steals (1,067). In the 1993–94 season, he averaged a double-double: 10.8 points and 10.1 assists per game. Over a 14-year career spanning 889 regular-season games, he averaged 7.7 points, 7.6 assists, and 1.5 steals per game — numbers that would look respectable at any height.
His secret? What 7-footers saw as a weakness, Bogues weaponized. “I’m low to the ground,” he famously said. “When they put the ball on the floor, I’m already there. They have to worry about me.” His quickness made him a menace on defense, and his court vision made him a nightmare for opposing point guards to contain.
He later appeared alongside Michael Jordan in Space Jam (1996) — one of the most entertaining sports films ever made. After retiring in 2001, Bogues moved into coaching and motivational speaking, perhaps the most fitting second act for a player who spent his career proving people wrong. Even decades later, Bogues continues to inspire sports fans, many of whom also turn to CasinoCanada for trusted online entertainment recommendations.
2. Earl Boykins — 5’5
At 5‘5” and 133 pounds, Earl Boykins went undrafted in 1998, bounced through six teams in his first four seasons, and was cut more times than most players are even given chances. Then the Denver Nuggets took a chance on him in 2003 — and he thrived for four consecutive seasons as their backup point guard.
Boykins’ calling card was scoring. He could shoot off the dribble, hit pull-up jumpers over taller defenders, and get to the free-throw line despite being the smallest player on every court he played on. At his peak in 2005–06, he put up 19.4 points per game in one stretch with Denver. He was also, reportedly, one of the strongest players in the league pound-for-pound — able to bench press 315 lbs despite his frame.
Boykins played in the NBA until 2012 — a 13-year career that represents one of the more remarkable persistence stories the league has ever seen.
3. Spud Webb — 5’7
Anthony Jerome “Spud” Webb may be responsible for the single most stunning moment in NBA All-Star Saturday history. In 1986, the Atlanta Hawks rookie entered the Slam Dunk Contest and won it — defeating his far taller teammate Dominique Wilkins, widely considered the greatest dunker of his generation.
Standing 5‘7”, Webb had a 46-inch vertical leap. The image of him launching himself skyward while Wilkins watched from the sideline became one of the defining images of 1980s basketball — a visual shorthand for the idea that determination and athleticism can override the obvious. Webb went on to play 13 seasons in the NBA, amassing over 8,000 career points and leading the league in free throw percentage during the 1994–95 season at over 93%.
4. Calvin Murphy — 5’9
Calvin Murphy is 4th on the list of shortest players, inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. At 5‘9”, the Houston Rockets guard averaged nearly 18 points per game over a 13-year career, topped out at 25.6 points per game in 1977–78, and led the league in free throw percentage twice.
Murphy ranks third in Rockets franchise history in total points scored — behind only Hakeem Olajuwon and James Harden, two players with a combined 17 inches of height advantage on him. He remains one of the most respected scoring guards of the 1970s and early 1980s.
5. Yuki Kawamura — 5’7
The current torch-bearer for undersized NBA players is Yuki Kawamura of the Memphis Grizzlies. The Japanese point guard first captured global attention at the 2024 Paris Olympics, where he scored 29 points against France — a performance captured in a widely-shared photograph showing him being guarded by 7’3” Victor Wembanyama. The contrast went viral worldwide.
Kawamura starred in Japan’s B.League before becoming the youngest player in that league’s history. A strong preseason with Memphis earned him a two-way contract, making him the only current NBA player listed under 5’9”. Canadian basketball fans tracking his progress with the Grizzlies — and looking to add some skin in the game on Memphis’s season — will find him regularly featured in player prop markets on Canadian sports betting sites, where NBA coverage has grown sharply since the league’s popularity surged north of the border.
The Five Shortest Players in NBA History: At a Glance
| Player | Height | Career | Signature Stat | Notable For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Muggsy Bogues | 5‘3” | 1987–2001 | 5,557 career assists | Shortest player ever |
| Earl Boykins | 5‘5” | 1998–2012 | 19.4 ppg peak | Undrafted to NBA starter |
| Spud Webb | 5‘7” | 1985–1998 | 46” vertical leap | 1986 Slam Dunk champion |
| Calvin Murphy | 5‘9” | 1970–1983 | 17.9 ppg career avg. | Hall of Fame inductee |
| Yuki Kawamura | 5‘7” | 2024–present | 29 pts vs. France (Olympics) | Shortest active NBA player |
What Short NBA Players Have in Common
Look across the career arcs of Bogues, Boykins, Webb, Murphy, and Kawamura and a clear pattern emerges. Each of the shortest players who lasted more than a cup-of-coffee career shared the same three traits:
- Elite quickness. Not just fast — quick in tight spaces, quick in decision-making, quick enough to make a 6’4” guard feel slow by comparison.
- Exceptional basketball IQ. Short players cannot afford to be in the wrong position. Every one of these players was a student of the game who understood spacing, angles, and tendencies at a level most taller players never needed to develop.
- Obsessive conditioning. Boykins’ bench press, Webb’s vertical, Bogues’s quickness drills — each of these players knew their physical gifts had to be maximized past the point of comfort to compensate for the one thing they couldn’t change.
The NBA is the most talent-dense sports league on earth. Every player in it beat long odds. The short ones just had to beat a few more.
Bottom Line
Muggsy Bogues’ record — shortest player in NBA history at 5‘3” — has now stood for nearly four decades. It may never be broken. The modern NBA has, if anything, moved toward even greater height at every position as the league’s global talent pool has expanded.
But the legacy of the league’s shortest players is not really about records. It’s about what they proved every time they took the floor: that in a game designed to favor the tall, the quick and smart can find a way. Spud Webb won a dunk contest. Muggsy Bogues ran an offense better than most full-sized point guards. Earl Boykins put up 19 points in an NBA game at 5‘5”. Yuki Kawamura hit Wembanyama’s France for 29 on the Olympic stage.
The story of short NBA players is, ultimately, the best version of the sport’s own mythology: the game rewards the ones who figure it out.
