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How do basketball players get taller

Does Basketball Make You Taller?

If you’re a fan of professional basketball or have ever watched an NBA game, you’ve probably noticed that the players are substantially taller than the average individual.

This begs the question: Does playing basketball make you taller, or does competitive basketball naturally select for taller athletes because of the advantage it gives them during play?

This is an especially interesting question if you’re looking to add a few inches to your height.

Unfortunately, for those looking to increase their height, no evidence to date suggests that basketball — or any form of exercise — plays a statistically significant role in increasing your maximum height.

Your maximum potential height is primarily determined by genetics, with environmental factors like nutrition during childhood and adolescence playing a secondary role in determining how close you get to your genetic height potential.

The good news is that despite the lack of effect on height, playing basketball offers a host of other benefits that make it an excellent activity for youth and adults alike.

This article breaks down everything you need to know about basketball and increasing your height.

No scientific evidence supports the idea basketball increases your height, and this lack of evidence is not due to a lack of research.

The sport of basketball has been around for a while, and plenty of research has analyzed its effects on physical parameters.

For example, a recent study looked at the effects of 10 weeks of basketball training on youth anthropometric and physiological characteristics. It observed improvements in lean body mass, jump height, grip strength, and other athletic performance (1).

Additional research on adults found that recreational basketball improved various health metrics, such as blood pressure and body fat percentages, after several months of play (2).

Although these specific studies were not specifically meant to assess changes in height, any theoretical height increases would have been noted, as this data was collected from participants.

The point is that basketball is not an understudied sport, so it’s fairly safe to assume that any research on basketball and height would be well published and publicized.

You can further assess the potential effect of basketball and height by breaking down the sport’s athletic movements and looking for research on whether these activities have the potential to increase height.

Basketball as a sport relies heavily on the following movements, all of which have been well studied for their effects on human physiology:

running and sprinting
jumping
changes of direction
overhead tossing
chest passing

If you expand your search to studies that have looked at these athletic skills, there’s still a lack of evidence supporting height gains from training programs incorporating exercises in these categories.

Although scientific discoveries can always change the potential evidence supporting the causes and effects of various exercise programs, no evidence supports basketball or any other physical activity intervention as a means to increase height.

Summary
There’s no evidence that basketball or any physical activity has a positive effect on maximum height.

Independent of athletic activity’s lack of effect on height, maximum height and the factors that affect it have been very well studied.

Growth in height is driven by bones growing in length. This process occurs throughout childhood and adolescence.

Bone elongation occurs at the epiphyseal growth plates, which are cartilaginous structures located on the ends of many different bones in children.

The greatest increases in height occur primarily during infancy and again during the pubertal growth spurt.

Toward the end of adolescence and early adulthood, the growth plates harden, and further growth in the length of bones ceases.

Note that it’s still possible to increase bone width and density via a proper exercise and nutrition program. Improving bone density is beneficial for your health, strength, and longevity, but it does not influence your overall height.

The overwhelming body of research on height shows that genetics plays a 60–95% determining role in maximum adult height (3).

Proper nutrition during childhood and adolescence fills in the final determining factor.

Adequate nutrition ensures that you reach your full genetic potential, but you cannot exceed your genetic maximum, which is predetermined at birth.

The same body of research suggests that malnutrition, which can include being either underweight or obese as a child, can decrease your ultimate height as an adult (4, 5).

If nutritional intake is insufficient during youth development, the body prioritizes vital functions and diverts the key nutrients away from bone elongation growth.

If your goal is to maximize the height of your children, ensuring they consume enough of a wide variety of healthy, nutrient-dense foods while limiting junk food is your best bet.

Once again, the limiting cutoff is their genetically programmed maximal height.

When it comes to increasing your height as an adult, there’s no scientifically proven method to do so.

Summary
Maximal height is genetically determined but can be stunted during childhood by inadequate nutritional intake. It’s impossible to increase your height in adulthood.

Although basketball will not increase your height, it’s an immensely beneficial activity for youth and adults alike.

The scientific benefits of basketball and its associated athletic skills have been well studied and include the following (6, 7, 8):

increased maximal oxygen uptake
improved time to exhaustion during physical activity
improved lean body mass
improved bone mineral density
decreased mean blood pressure
decreased body fat percentage
decreased resting heart rate
improved upper- and lower-body explosive strength
improved coordination in both able-bodied and disabled athletes

In general, participation in physical activities delivers a host of benefits.

Given that basketball includes both cardiovascular training as well as plyometric, explosive movements like jumping and passing, playing basketball improves health in several ways.

Additionally, competitive basketball players and serious recreational athletes likely participate in related strength and conditioning to improve basketball performance. This separate training likely compounds the benefits experienced from basketball alone.

Summary
Although basketball does not increase maximum height, it offers many health and performance benefits.

While there’s no evidence that basketball increases your height, you may still be unconvinced when looking at the rosters of elite basketball teams.

This boils down to correlation versus causation.

Since basketball requires players to out jump one another for scoring, blocking, and recovering the ball, taller players have a distinct advantage.

For the same jumping ability, a taller player will reach a greater maximum height.

While a shorter player may be able to compensate for their height by increasing their vertical jump, there’s a practical limit to how much higher you can jump once you’re already an elite athlete.

An elite player with a height disadvantage of 6 or more inches (about 15 or more cm) compared with a similarly skilled player will have an exceedingly difficult time overcoming the physical discrepancy.

For proof of this fact, consider this 2020 statistical evaluation of elite basketball players. It found that teams with greater average player heights consistently outperformed teams with shorter average heights (9).

This was true on both a team level and individual player level, with taller players consistently outperforming shorter players.

As such, coaches selecting players for elite teams will likely favor taller players because, on average, these players will perform better.

Since players are selected on a performance basis, the ultimate result will be that elite basketball team rosters have players who are substantially taller than the average person.

It may be tempting to assume that the years of play required to even try out for an elite team might have influenced the players’ height. Nevertheless, there’s simply no evidence to support this.

Summary
Taller basketball players outperform shorter players, on average, leading to elite basketball team rosters having much greater average heights than the general population.

Although basketball is an overall healthy activity and fairly low-risk sport, there are a few considerations to note when it comes to height and bone growth in youth populations.

Because basketball involves jumping, cutting movements, and the potential for falls and fractures, care must be taken to minimize fracture risks and properly address any fractures that occur.

Research on long bone fractures in children reveals that upward of a third of fractures result in damage to the growth plate (10).

When effectively managed and treated, youth can often fully recover with little to no long-term damage.

In the event of improper treatment, damage to growth plates can stunt or halt growth regarding the overall length of bones.

Growth plate damage can cause a number of problems related to a reduction in maximum height, including the risk of limbs being different lengths.

To avoid this, ensure that any bone fractures sustained during the growing years are promptly assessed and treated by a medical professional.

Another preemptive measure to avoid the risk is ensuring that your child’s youth sports coach fully understands the risks and safety protocols when it comes to youth athletic activities.

During certain stages of growth, the plates are more susceptible to damage, and certain forms of exercise may be contraindicated.

A coach certified to work with youth populations will be very familiar with the ins and outs of safety regarding fractures and plate damage.

Overall, the benefits of youth physical activity, including potentially injurious activity, far outweigh the risks. If proper caution and care are taken both preemptively and following any injury, there’s little risk of stunted growth in youth populations.

For adults, fractures are serious injuries that require varying degrees of medical attention, but they’re not at the same risk of decreased maximal height given that bone length growth is complete in adulthood.

In addition to fractures, basketball has the potential to lead to other soft tissue injuries like sprains and strains.

While these injuries are painful and temporarily debilitating, they do not pose a serious risk of decreased maximal height.

Summary
Among youth, proper preemptive and post-injury care should be taken to minimize growth plate damage risk. Adults are not at risk of decreased height from injuries, and the overall benefits of basketball outweigh the risks among both youth and adults.

Although there’s no scientifically proven method to increase height beyond genetic capacity nor following the hardening of epiphyseal plates, a number of exercise programs and dietary supplements claim to make you taller.

Generally, the only risk of exercise programs aimed at increased height is that they will not work, at least when it comes to height.

The programs may be beneficial for other fitness goals, but be wary of any positive claims about exercise making you taller.

When it comes to supplements, you should practice even more caution. There is no evidence that supplements can increase the height of an adult.

Furthermore, the supplement industry is not regulated, and you run the risk of taking supplements with unverified, untested, or tainted ingredients.

The best-case scenario for height-improving supplements is that they do not work and are a waste of money.

In the worst case, you run the risk of taking potentially harmful ingredients, particularly when you do not know the specific amounts of each component in a supplement blend.

Summary
Exercise programs and supplements claiming to increase height are unproven and unlikely to have the intended effect. Always exercise caution when taking any dietary supplement and consult your healthcare provider in advance.

You may strive to increase your height for any number of reasons, including sports performance and general aesthetics.

Given that basketball players tend to be tall, you might assume that basketball can help increase maximal height.

Unfortunately, no evidence suggests that basketball or any other physical activity increases your maximal height. The same is true for supplements and any other tricks marketed to increase your height.

Height is determined primarily by genetic factors and secondarily by nutrition during childhood and adolescence.

By the time you reach adulthood, your bone growth plates close and further increases in height are biologically impossible.

Great basketball players are taller, on average, because height gives players a distinct advantage on the court. Accordingly, team selections consistently favor tall individuals.

The good news is that playing basketball and participating in similar physical activities offer a wide range of benefits for both health and athletic performance.

Do not be discouraged by the fact that you cannot increase your height.

You can still be a healthy, thriving individual and increase your performance in basketball and other sports through consistent participation and training.

How Do NBA Players Get so Tall?

Since the NBA’s inception, the hoop has stood 10 feet above the floor. This height has proved perfect as players grow taller and more athletic. More NBA players than ever can dunk, but the league has embraced it. Each year, the NBA Roster Survey tries to find the average player height (although teams and players have been dishonest in the past).

Notably, we’ve seen the average height rise since the league’s beginning. It currently averages 6-foot-6.54 tall, according to the NBA Roster Survey. So, what’s causing players to stand taller than ever?

It’s very rare for players to continue growing once they’re in the league. Yet, as more players forego college and the average age in the NBA drops, some players won’t be fully grown when they sign their first contract. Still, height is mostly a question of genetics.

The NBA’s global search for height

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Yao Ming (@yao) on Jun 24, 2019 at 6:57am PDT

The first reason for taller NBA players involves scouting. At 6-foot-9 and 7-feet-tall respectively, Pascal Siakam and Joel Embiid made their presence known in the NBA immediately.

A decade ago, neither had much basketball experience. Their physical attributes helped these giants become major threats, but in the early days, the NBA wouldn’t even notice two young men from Cameroon. Luc Mbah a Moute’s work with African players brought Siakam and Embiid to America.

Yao Ming sparked Chinese interest in the NBA through the 2000s and eventually made it into the NBA Hall of Fame. The first international player to be drafted first overall, Ming’s 7-foot-6 frame ascended the league’s average height on his own.

The late great Manute Bol also enjoyed NBA success. One of the first foreign players to make a huge impact in the league, Bol opened doors for other tall global prospects.

Second-generation NBA players

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“Are we gonna do the Manute Bol picture?” – @tackofall99 on media day #crustaceannation #maine #nbagleague (repost @maineredclaws)
A post shared by NBA (@nba) on Nov 9, 2019 at 11:15pm PST

Another reason NBA players continue to get taller? Height is largely genetic. As taller players succeed in the NBA, they produce taller children who make it to the league on their own.

The young Bronny James Jr., who seems destined for the NBA, broke 6-feet-tall in his early teens. Manute’s son Bol Bol has the chance to succeed in the NBA because of his father’s career and work. The younger Bol easily clears 7 feet as well.

The NBA spent the past three decades expanding its reach globally. An often-cited statistic claims 17% of the world’s 7-foot-tall men play in the NBA. No real science ever confirmed this statistic, but it’s clear that the global NBA encourages more players from abroad. Without Mbah a Moute it’s unlikely we’d see Siakam and Embiid in the league.

Can shorter players still succeed?

View this post on Instagram

We been rockin since ‘07 at Rbk U camp, then being on Reebok together when we first got in the league to playing in All star games together to battling in Game 7s against each other to now being teammates. Crazy how life works but it’s always been real love between us killa @johnwall #RealOne
A post shared by Isaiah Thomas (@isaiahthomas) on Oct 3, 2019 at 4:47pm PDT

Humans aren’t growing much taller than before. However, global reach and multi-generational families give more tall players the chance to make it in the NBA. Average league height remains below 6-foot-7 for now. It’s unclear how much higher it will grow but global giants continue to drive the average up.

Basketball’s focus on pure height will allow tall players to succeed with minimal training as long as they commit to learning fundamentals. Manute finished his career with more blocks than points — the only player to ever do so.

Height is a massive boon to aspiring players but dozens of stars succeeded below six feet. The most important factor in NBA success is how badly a player wants it. But having an extra foot or two on the field doesn’t hurt.

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Why are basketball players tall?

Answers:

Basketball players are tall because coaches purposefully select naturally tall people for this sport. It is simply easier for them than for people of normal height or short people to jump to the basket and put the ball into it from above. At one time they tried to equalize the chances in basketball for people of all sizes. To do this, they proposed to raise the basketball backboard even higher, by about one and a half meters. Then the chances of two-meter giants to jump above the ring would disappear. But, after thinking, we came to the conclusion that the game will lose its staginess and, as a result, income. That left basketball a game for the giants.

Basketball is a sport in which you have to dribble the ball with your hands (take it away from your opponents), bounce and throw the ball into the basket.

In order to throw the ball into the basket, you need to be tall, because the ball baskets are set quite high and a person with an average height of 175 cm may not jump (and how much energy will be spent on this unsuccessful movement).

That's why basketball players and tall ones, as well as playing basketball, can increase a person's height by stretching the spine.

Even if schoolchildren play non-professional basketball, even they can grow up a little. I know a girl who goes to basketball specifically, she wants to be taller, her father is short, about 175 cm, and her mother is about 165-170 cm. :

Growth hormones. Each one is different.
Heredity. If the parents are tall, then the children are basically the same, and I even read somewhere that the son is 4-5 cm taller than the father on average.
The body of a basketball player is stretched during constant jumping in training and competition. The body of swimmers (namely, the body itself relaxes in the water and the spine lengthens) also stretches during swimming.

But I want to emphasize one important point that not all basketball players are tall, there are examples of short ones for this sport, the same Tyrone Mugsy Bogues (the shortest basketball player in the NBA).

This is a kind of artificial selection in which the highest survive. Basketball is such a game that for its participants, high growth is the main dominant factor that allows them to achieve any success in this sport.

A small player can accurately shoot at the basket, can run fast and dribble well, but he will not be able to jump over a tall defender and, therefore, will inevitably lose in the fight under the basket.

Therefore, boys and girls who stand out among their peers in height are immediately taken to basketball.

I don't think that basketball lessons themselves can accelerate a person's growth, although there is such an opinion.

Answer by contradiction. These are not tall basketball players, it is mostly tall players that are accepted into professional teams. It is easier for such guys to reach the shield in order to shove the ball into the hoop.

Soon, probably, the basketball hoops will be lifted higher, as some players who are over two meters tall will only need to stretch their hand with the ball up - neither jumping nor throwing is necessary. They just put another two points in the basket.

The rules of basketball require that a team, in order to win, need to throw more balls over the net behind the backs of the opposing team within the allotted time so that no one catches. Of course, the higher the growth, the easier it is to achieve. Therefore, this is why basketball teams are staffed with tall athletes.

Here the dependence is inverse. The taller a person is, the more successful he can become in basketball. After all, high growth facilitates the game, gives a higher chance to throw the ball into the ring, placed at a high height for a person of normal height. Therefore, not a tall person, because a basketball player, but a basketball player, because he is tall)

It is not basketball that makes basketball players tall, but the coach chooses tall guys and girls for his team. What nonsense. After all, the higher the basketball player, the easier it is for him to throw the ball into the basket, and of course you need to train. One growth is not enough.

And it's more convenient to throw the ball into the basket! In this kind of team sport, tall (from 1.90) people are specially selected. So these are not tall basketball players, but tall basketball players!)))

they are clamped by the legs and head on special machines and pulled out, the procedure is repeated every 6 hours, so their bones are pulled out and they become taller)))

Tall basketball players because during this sport the body involuntarily stretches, plus special sports nutrition.

The height of the basket from the floor is -3 meters, so short people are unlikely to be able to throw the ball to it, especially in the heat of the game, and they can get tired trying to jump to the basket. In addition, the arms of basketball players are always extended, which is easier to carry with high growth.

Basketball players should be tall so that it is easier and easier for them to reach the basket and shoot the ball into it.

Tall people predominate over people of short and normal stature in this sport. High growth makes it easier for them to play and increases the chances of the team to win.

how tall a basketball player should be, why basketball players are tall

Danila Chezhin

Professional basketball players are all very tall people. This stereotype has probably existed since the birth of the orange ball game. But to what extent does this thesis reflect the real state of affairs? Do short people really have no chance to play basketball professionally? Let's test the myth for strength. What is the best height for basketball?

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How tall do you need to be to play basketball?

Growth is what coaches first of all pay attention to when recruiting young players for basketball clubs. As a result of proper physical development, it is easier for naturally tall children to gain a foothold in the basketball team. It should be understood that high growth, although it is very important for a basketball player, is by no means a dogma. The history of the game knows a lot of examples when undersized athletes achieved great success, actively using other strengths. Suffice it to recall the great 160-centimeter point guard Mugsy Bogz, who played 14 seasons in the NBA. Bogz is one of the leaders in the world's major basketball league in assists and steals. Bogz's example is far from the only one.

The average height of an NBA player since the league's inception has hovered around 190 centimeters. The average figure is large, but it cannot take into account the peculiarities of basketball tactics and the peculiarities of a particular historical era of sports. According to the rules of the game, a team of five people enters the basketball court at the same time. Each of the five solves its own problems and, accordingly, each has its own growth requirements. For example, the center player, whose main goal is to fight under the ring for picking up the ball, is the tallest - around 210 cm. And for basketball players who play the ball on the perimeter, on the contrary, high growth can become an obstacle. Handling the ball in dribbling requires flexibility and dexterity in body control. Point guards in basketball are called "little guards". Height at 180-190 cm is normal for them. So it’s impossible to answer the question “what height is needed for basketball” with accuracy - the data for each position will differ markedly.

Why are most basketball players still tall?

Although, as we found out above, height is an important, but far from a determining component of anthropometry for playing basketball, the average height of players still stands out from the average for people in general. This indicator is achieved largely due to the fact that there are a lot of abnormally tall people in basketball. If you look at the top tallest players in history, there will be basketball players over 230 centimeters tall. For example, the well-known center of African origin Manute Bol - 231 cm. Or the Chinese basketball player Yao Ming, who played in the NBA for the Houston Rockets - 229cm.

In modern basketball, where the emphasis is increasingly on perimeter work and three-point shots, the importance for teams of players 220 centimeters tall and above is steadily declining. However, almost every club still has at least one such player. Due to their presence, a high average height of basketball players is formed.

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Does basketball make children grow taller?

Like any sport, basketball, with the right approach, in childhood improves the overall physical and emotional state. As for increasing the intensity of growth, basketball can play a role here too. It is clear, however, that game training by itself will not bring the desired effect. Other factors are also important, such as proper nutrition, recovery procedures, and so on.

What is the best age to play basketball?

Age limits for admission of children to basketball sections are usually the following:

minimum threshold - 4 years
maximum - 12-13 years old

But here, as in the case of growth, there are no rules that cannot be broken. At first, the coaches of sports schools lay down the basic skills of the game and carry out general physical training. If you wish, you can learn basic things even at the age of 15-16. And physical strength can be acquired in other disciplines. It is not uncommon for people to come to basketball at a young age from other sports. For example, in American university sports, where baseball players, volleyball players, and football players often become basketball players.

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