Height isn’t a requirement to play professional basketball, but it does increase your chances, whether it’s playing in the WNBA or the NBA. Having a height advantage over your opponents gives you an unspoken advantage at protecting the rim and grabbing rebounds. That is, as long as you have the hustle and effort to go with it.
While the WNBA has only been around since 1997, it’s already welcomed players that tower over everyone else. Here’s a look at the five tallest female basketball players who ever stepped foot in the WNBA.
5. Liz Cambage (6’8″ or 6’9″)
Figuring out Cambage’s exact height can be tricky since some sources claim she’s 6’8″, while others claim she’s 6’9″. Either case, it doesn’t change the fact that Cambage is one of the tallest players to play in the WNBA. A feat that she nearly never got to accomplish since she initially refused to play for the team (Tulsa Shock) that drafted her in the 2011 WNBA draft.
Cambage’s career has been marked with a lot of controversy. Once she returned to the WNBA after a five-year hiatus, Cambage signed with the Dallas Wings in 2019 and immediately requested a trade a year later. She’d sit out the next season due to concerns over COVID-19 and was eventually released by the Sparks in the middle of the 2022 by her request to pursue other interests.
Aside from making money off her Onlyfans account, Cambage still plays basketball. Currently, she plays for the Sichuan Yuanda of the WCBA.
4. Brittney Griner (6’9″)
Griner has been a star in the WNBA ever since she was drafted number one pick by the Phoenix Mercury in 2013. As a towering presence, Griner has made the most of her height advantage on both sides of the floor. As one of the tallest players in the league, Griner’s won an WNBA title and an Olympic gold medal.
3. Bernadett Hatar (6’10”)
Despite being one of the three tallest players to make the WNBA, Hatar’s career hasn’t been off to the best start. After making the Indiana Fever roster in 2021 on a training camp deal, she was eventually waived in 2022.
She’d find her way on the Connecticut Sun a few days later. Then, she was traded to the Washington Mystics on May 7, 2024. To this day, Hatar’s only played 13 games in the WNBA, seven with the Fever and six with the Sun.
2. Han Xu (6’11”)
As a second-round pick back in 2019, Xu is one of the tallest players to ever play in the WNBA. The Chinese center was on the New York Liberty for five years but rarely got any playing time. Once she was waived by the Liberty before the start of the 2024 season, Xu spent the last year in China playing for the Sichuan Yuanda of the WCBA, AKA the same team as the fifth tallest player in WNBA history (Cambage).
1. Margo Dydek (7’2″)
The late Margo Dydek holds the distinction of being the tallest player in WNBA history at 7 feet, 2 inches. Selected as the No. 1 overall pick in the 1998 WNBA Draft by the Utah Starzz, Dydek quickly established herself as one of the league’s most dominant defenders. In fact, Dydek remains the WNBA’s all-time leader in blocked shots, with 877 rejections over her 10-year career.
Tragically, Dydek passed away in 2011 while pregnant with her third child after suffering from a Myocardial infarction (cardiac arrest) inside her home.
Dydek might no longer be around, but her legacy as a trailblazer for tall players in the WNBA will surely live on forever.
The post Meet the 5 tallest players to play in the WNBA appeared first on ClutchPoints.
