6'6.3" today — but the league peaked in the 2000s and has been getting shorter since. Every position and every era, measured from real rosters.
Read the full story ↓Across 1,124 players who entered the league in 2015–2025, the average listed height is 6'6.3". Each player counts once in this entry-year group. Entry classes have been getting shorter since the 2000s.
| Position | Average height | Average weight | Players |
|---|---|---|---|
| Centers | 6'11.3" | 246 lb | 128 |
| Forwards | 6'7.9" | 223 lb | 427 |
| Guards | 6'3.9" | 198 lb | 569 |
Measured by entry decade from one roster record, the NBA gained about three inches between the 1950s and its 2000s peak of 6'7.1" — then the positionless era arrived, and the average walked back down:
| Entry decade | Average height | Players |
|---|---|---|
| 1950s | 6'4.5" | 281 |
| 1960s | 6'5.4" | 315 |
| 1970s | 6'5.9" | 572 |
| 1980s | 6'6.8" | 662 |
| 1990s | 6'6.9" | 669 |
| 2000s | 6'7.1" | 690 |
| 2010s | 6'6.5" | 894 |
| Today | 6'6.3" | 1,124 |
Calculated on from NBA Stats player bios. We average the listed heights of 5,152 usable player records, each counted once and grouped by the year he entered the league. 52 unparsable listings are excluded rather than guessed at. The current-era table covers entries 2015–2025, including players whose careers have ended.
How long those careers run is its own page: how long a pro career lasts, same archive, same rules. And the ends of the ruler have theirs: the tallest NBA players ever and the shortest, from this same register.
More from the record book: how long a pro career lasts, the average NFL retirement age, how big the average NFL player is, the NFL sack record, the tallest NBA players ever, the shortest NBA players ever, average WNBA height, how many players are in the NFL, how many players are in the NBA, the average MLB player, the most home runs in a season, the most Super Bowl wins, the most World Series wins, the most NBA championships, the tallest WNBA players ever, the NFL single-season records, the average NHL player, the perfect MLB season and every perfect season.
Updated September 2026
6'6.3" across 1,124 players who entered the league in the current era — the same figure the league's own reporting carries, which is the check that makes the rest of this page worth reading. Guards average 6'4", forwards 6'8", centers 6'11".
Shorter — and almost nobody says it out loud. Entry classes peaked at 6'7.1" in the 2000s, and today's cohort averages 6'6.3". The positionless era did not select for height; it selected for skill at every height, and the average came down with it.
6'11.3", at an average 246 pounds — measured over 128 centers from the current entry classes. The seven-footer is the position's norm now, not its exception.
6'3.9" on average — taller than most people guess, and a full head over the general public. The shortest regular position in the league still averages above six foot three.
The 1950s entry classes averaged 6'4.5". The league gained about three inches over the next half-century, peaked in the 2000s, and has drifted back since — the full decade-by-decade table is above, from one roster record so every era is measured the same way.
That is the game this page lives on: spin real franchise eras, play a whole NBA career or draft the all-time starting five on the basketball board and chase a perfect 82-0 season against the same record book these heights come from.
6'5.4" across the 1960s entry classes, measured over 315 players — taller than the 1950s classes and still short of the 2000s peak, with the game's biggest jump in height yet to come.
6'6.9" for the 1990s entry classes, within an inch of today's 6'6": the league's height had nearly peaked by then, the 2000s classes were the tallest ever, and it has drifted back down since.
