When we encounter someone exceptionally tall in public, we all get the same thought: “I wonder if they play basketball.” Most of us just quietly assume they play basketball as we appreciate their height from a distance.
We all know WNBA players are typically tall but have you ever wondered how tall the average player at the moment is?
Even if some of these women don’t play many minutes or aren’t regular contributors to their squad, you might be surprised by how tall some of them are.
A WNBA player’s height today hovers around 6 feet, 0 inches. Currently, the tallest WNBA player is 6’10”, while the lowest is 5’5″. Six of the eight players classified as standing at least 6’6″ tall were born in the United States; the other two are from Australia and Hungary.
In today’s article, we’ll break down the average player’s height and reveal the tallest woman currently playing for WNBA teams in 2022. You’ll also learn whether height affects who wins the league MVP Award.
How Tall Are WNBA Players on Average?
WNBA players typically stand 6 feet tall, according to the 2022 WNBA teams. 73 bigs (centers, forwards, and forward-guards) and 69 guards are included in that (including guard-forwards).
The averages for each WNBA position are as follows:
• The average height of a center in the WNBA is 6 feet 5 inches.
• The standard height of a WNBA center-forward/forward-center is 6 feet 4 inches.
• A forward WNBA player typically stands 6 feet 2 inches tall.
• The typical WNBA forward-guard is 6 feet 2 inches tall.
• A guard-Forward in the WNBA is typically 6 feet tall.
• A guard (point & shooter) in the WNBA is typically 5 feet 8 inches tall.
It’s quite obvious that guards tend to be on the shorter end of the league, as you might anticipate. In contrast, forwards and centers stand tall.
Recommended reading: Here’s Exactly Why NBA Makes More Than WNBA
In 2022/2023, Who Will be the Tallest WNBA Player?
In seven games she played in the league last year, Bernadett Hatar, a 6 foot 10-inch basketball player from Hungary, was the tallest.
She signed a training camp contract with the Indiana Fever last year. She spent five seasons playing with Sopron Basket in the EuroLeague A Division.
In her most recent campaign, she averaged 9.0 points and 5.0 rebounds per game while shooting 64.8 percent from the floor. She didn’t participate, though, after the Fever suspended her for the 2020 campaign owing to an undisclosed ailment.
But in 2021, she played seven games for Fever and then returned to Hungary to play for Sopron. So we won’t be seeing her next season.
The tallest WNBA player for the upcoming WNBA 2022/2023 season is currently Brittney Griner standing 6 feet 9 inches tall. She took home the 2014 WNBA Championship with the Phoenix Mercury.
She has also twice been named WNBA Defensive Player of the Year (2015, 2014). She also competed for Team USA in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, winning a gold medal.
Additionally, she won the MVP award for the gold medal game in 2018 and has won two gold medals with Team USA in the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Championships (2018, 2014). She can also dunk, too!
With two players each, the Atlanta Dream and the Chicago Sky have the tallest players in the league. The top tallest WNBA players for 2022/2023 are listed below.
1. 6′ 9″ Brittney Griner
Brittney Griner is currently one of the WNBA’s most thrilling and entertaining players.
She is renowned for saturating the paint with her enormous stature and has always been among the tallest WNBA players at 6’9″. The Phoenix Mercury selected her with the first overall choice in 2013.
Griner has never fallen below the league averages of 12.6 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks. In four of the last five seasons, she averaged more than 20 points per game, more than 3.0 blocks per game, and seven All-Star berths.
2. 6′ 7″ Teaira McCowan
Teaira McCowan is second on our list of the tallest WNBA players. She is one of the tallest players in the WNBA at 6’7″.
The Indiana Fever selected her with the third overall choice in the 2019 NBA Draft, and she has already paid them back with great play.
In 2021, she made career highs in points, assists, rebounds, steals, blocks, field goal %, and minutes. She has progressed in each of her first three seasons.
She’ll continue to improve as she figures out how to trick her adversaries and use her height to her advantage.
3. 6’7″ Kalani Brown
The second 6’7″ player in the WNBA is Kalani Brown, who was drafted just four spots after Teaira McCowan.
She spent her debut season with the Los Angeles Sparks, where she was selected seventh overall, before being transferred to the Atlanta Dream in exchange for Marie Gülich and Brittney Sykes.
Brown has only appeared in 11 games since the trade, despite appearing in 28 games with the Sparks during her rookie season.
The move hasn’t gone well for her. She played just five minutes for Atlanta in her lone game of the 2021 season, finishing with two points and one rebound.
4. 6’6” Mercedes Russell
The New York Liberty originally selected Mercedes Russell in the second round of the 2018 WNBA Draft.
After only two games, she was released from the team and later signed with the Seattle Storm. She and the Storm won the WNBA Championship during the same campaign.
She now frequently starts for Seattle and admirably complements Breanna Stewart, Sue Bird, and Jewell Loyd.
Russell fell only 0.2 points per game short of a career-best during her 2021 campaign, but she completed with career-high rebounds and assists.
5. 6’6″ Sylvia Fowles
Since joining the WNBA as the second overall draft pick in 2008, Sylvia Fowles has established herself as one of the league’s most explosive players.
She excels both offensively and defensively, racking up a steady stream of steals, blocks, scores, and rebounds.
In her 14 seasons in the WNBA, she has never scored less than 10.5 points per game on average and has averaged a double-double seven times.
In 2011, she averaged 20.0 points per game. In 2018, she averaged 11.9 rebounds per game. In 2010, she averaged 2.6 blocks per game.
The Tallest WNBA Player Ever
Malgorzata Dydek, 7 feet 2 inches tall, is the tallest WNBA player in history. The Poland native played center for three WNBA clubs throughout her basketball career.
The Utah Starzz selected Malgorzata in the first round of the 1998 WNBA draft (the franchise was subsequently transferred to San Antonio).
In the WNBA draft of 2005, she was moved to the Connecticut Sun. She later signed with the Los Angeles Sparks after taking a break from basketball to become a mother.
She was accepted to the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2019. And has the most defensive rebounds (214) in one season (2001), holds the record for the most blocks (877) in 323 games, and was the season’s top blocker nine times.
It turns out that height is a major advantage on the court’s defensive end.
Unfortunately, Margo died in 2011 of cardiac arrest while pregnant with her third child.
Does the Height of a Team Indicate Its Success?
Most teams have a very comparable height distribution. Because the medians and averages are so close, a team’s height doesn’t seem to increase its chances of success.
However, it is obvious that a specific height, ideally 5 feet 9 inches or above, is promising to play in the WNBA.
Does Height Affect a Player’s Chances of Winning the WNBA MVP Award?
The sample size is tiny, and it isn’t easy to distinguish between correlation and causation in this case.
It is evident that the MVP award winners are taller than the league average, which is 5 feet 9 inches, at an average height of 6 feet 4 inches.
Women who play forward and center positions typically win the honor rather than guards, which clarifies the disparity in height.
We wrote more about this in our detailed guide, Basketball for Short Players – Here’s Why You Can Still Succeed, so make sure to check it out.
