He and the Grizzlies protect Jacob Gilyard (5-0). Jacob Gilyard is the shortest player in the current NBA, measuring 173 cm (5 ft 8 in). The shortest player in the current NBA is Jacob Gilyard. The Brooklyn Nets shooting guard is 1.70 m tall. Once Nowell (5-0) enters his first NBA game this season, he will be tied for eighth place as the shortest player in NBA history.
The annual record is packed with information, including this season's average height (6 feet 6.5 inches), weight (215.3 pounds), and age (26.03 years) of an NBA player. That said, the NBA's tallest decade was actually in the 80s (average height of 6'7.2 inches) and since then it has been going up and down. The average height of NBA players was 6.4 in the 1952-53 season, and now they measure 6'6.5 inches, so there has been a increase in height. As mentioned, Jacob Gilyard is the shortest player in the current NBA with a height of 5.8 inches, followed by Isaiah Thomas, who is 5.9 inches tall.
Bogues tops the list of shortest players in NBA history, and is probably the most famous short player in the NBA, but he's far from the only shortest man to have a solid NBA career. Of the 25 shortest players in NBA history, only three have averaged more than 10 points per game in their NBA careers. The shortest player in NBA history has repeatedly said that he can score and that he did it in high school and college. If an average man played in the NBA today, he would be just an inch taller than the current NBA's shortest player (and four inches shorter than the average WNBA player).
Throughout NBA history, there have been several players under 6 feet tall who have left their mark on the game. Despite their size, many of the shortest players in NBA history have made a surprisingly good dunker. However, Gilyard handed out 1.5 assists per game, so it wasn't all bad for the shortest player in the NBA. As the shortest player in the NBA right now, Gilyard averaged 4.2 points, 1.1 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game this season.
Golden State Warriors guard Chris Paul (18 seasons played) and Miami Heat guard Kyle Lowry (17 seasons played) rank second and third in NBA experience. Although the list of shortest NBA players of all time includes many players who are less than 6 feet tall, there are currently only 2 such players in the NBA.
