Kobe Bryant first joined the Los Angeles Lakers as a fresh-faced 18-year-old straight out of high school and didn’t leave until he was 37. In that time, Kobe piled up an MVP award, 18 All-Star selections, and five NBA championships. He was such a legend that the Lakers even retired both of his jersey numbers.
Although Kobe only hung up his jersey for good at the end of the 2015-16 NBA season, it feels much longer with how much he’s accomplished since. The Black Mamba has maintained his intense “mamba mentality” in various business endeavors before dying in a tragic helicopter crash in early 2020.
LeBron James – 6’9″
Yes, we’re aware that LeBron James is ~not~ the tallest NBA player, but the man is still 6’8. We’d say that’s tall enough! James is regarded as one of the greatest basketball players to ever set foot on the court. Trust us, he’s got the accolades to prove it.
James has been playing basketball since the fifth grade, and obviously, all this training turned out to be a great investment as the guy is often compared to Michael Jordan and holds three Olympic medals as well as two FIBA titles.
Michael Jordan – 6’6″
When being incredibly successful in the Olympics is one of the minor things you’ll ever do, you know you’ve got the perfect career as a legendary athlete under your belt. So much has been said about Michael Jordan that at this point, it’s almost not worth going into.
He’s been in a good number of commercials since he retired from the NBA and is a passionate golfer, but at this point, we will just take this as an opportunity to remind you that he also starred in Space Jam.
Ronnie Coleman – 330 lbs
As a competitive bodybuilder, Ronnie Coleman has got to be packed full of a ton of muscle or he’s not going to have much of a chance. And at a mere five-foot-eleven, he’s probably not even close to the tallest bodybuilder out there, but we still wouldn’t want to go toe-to-toe with this guy.
In any kind of ring. But Ronnie Coleman isn’t a fighter – he’s a lover, and it takes the right kind of person to love all three hundred and thirty pounds of him. That’s during the off-season when he lets himself put on a little bit of baby fat. Come competition time, and after a cut, he’s down to a trim three hundred pounds. Careful, Coleman, or you might just disappear! Sometimes, he even gets down to 287! That’s why he’s The King, baby.
Mariusz Pudzianowski – 313 lbs
Make sure Mariusz Pudzianowski doesn’t hear you say that he’s small because there’s no way he’s ever going to let that fly. While this competitive strongman and MMA fighter – yes, both – is only six-foot-one, he’s anywhere between two hundred and fifty-six pounds and three hundred and thirteen pounds, depending on which of his two sports he’s training for. If he does hear you say he’s small, watch out – his reach is a ridiculous seventy-seven inches. That’s almost six and a half feet!
This guy sometimes goes by Pudzilla, which is not only a way for people to get out of having to spell his name correctly, but it makes him seem like a dinosaur, which he kind of is. His other nickname is “Pudzian,” which we don’t think is as cool, but don’t let him hear us say that.