{"id":7412,"date":"2019-09-17T10:21:48","date_gmt":"2019-09-17T15:21:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/?p=7412"},"modified":"2020-12-26T16:48:00","modified_gmt":"2020-12-26T22:48:00","slug":"tallest-player-in-nba-history-gheorghe-muresan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/tallest-player-in-nba-history-gheorghe-muresan\/","title":{"rendered":"Tallest Player in NBA History: Gheorghe Muresan"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Gheorge Muresan is the tallest player in NBA history<\/h1>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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In fact… this was my real-time reaction to seeing his name.<\/p>\n

I’ve always thought Manute Bol<\/a> was the tallest player in NBA history, but that’s entirely incorrect.<\/h2>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/h2>\n

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

Oh, you don’t remember “My Giant”? Yeah, ME EITHER.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

I’m going to go on a rant right here…he was the tallest player in NBA history.<\/em>..HOW WAS THIS GUY SO USELESS?!<\/h2>\n

RELATED – Best Tall Freak: Manute Bol vs. Shawn Bradley vs. Gheorge Muresan vs. Rik Smits<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

So I decided to do some research, and wow… this guy was something out of a fairy tale.<\/p>\n

I found something remarkable in my deep search. Gheorghe’s former teammate Rex Chapman<\/a> has an incredible story about the big man.<\/h2>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Muresan told him that it’s, “Mo\u015f Cr\u0103ciun”, and Champman asked him to sing the song “Here Comes Santa Claus.”<\/p>\n

Except, he had to replace Santa Claus with Mo\u015f Cr\u0103ciun.<\/p>\n

Now paint the picture of a seven foot Romanian man, drunkenly singing a Christmas ballad in broken English and replacing Santa Claus with Mo\u015f Cr\u0103ciun.<\/p>\n

Is that not absolutely hilarious to any of you?<\/p>\n

That Christmas party must have been the greatest thing ever.<\/p>\n

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.<\/h2>\n

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.<\/p>\n

I mean… do Muresan family pictures need to be taken from 300 feet away?<\/p>\n

Seriously, it’s absurd.<\/p>\n

Oh and let’s not forget Muresan’s Snickers cologne campaign.<\/p>\n