Who Is the Shortest NBA Player Right Now?
Yuki Kawamura is listed at 5'7" and stands as the shortest player on an NBA roster this season — but he's still four inches taller than the shortest player in league history.
Yuki Kawamura, who signed with the Los Angeles Clippers in August 2026, is listed at 5'7" and is the shortest player attached to an NBA roster for the 2026-27 season. The shortest player in NBA history is still Muggsy Bogues, at 5'3".
Size has never been a hard requirement for NBA success — just ask the players on this list.
Shortest Active NBA Players Today
- Yuki Kawamura — Los Angeles Clippers — 5'7"
- Braden Smith — Indiana Pacers — 5'10"
- Isaiah Stevens — 5'11"
- Ryan Nembhard — 5'11"
- Jordan McLaughlin — 5'11"
Heights are as officially listed by NBA teams and may vary slightly by source. Rosters shift over the season, so a few names here will move around as two-way contracts and trades happen. ESPN's player page for Kawamura has his season-by-season stats if you want to track how his role develops in Los Angeles.
Who Used to Top This List
The answer to this question moves around more than people expect, because it depends on who's attached to a roster in a given season rather than who's simply short. Kawamura is a good illustration: he broke into the league with Memphis, spent time with Chicago, and signed with the Clippers in August 2026 — three organizations in about as many seasons, with the "shortest active player" label following him the whole way.
There's also a technicality worth knowing, and it's why you'll see different answers on different sites. Kawamura has been on two-way contracts, which split time between the NBA roster and the G League. Some lists only count players on standard NBA contracts, and by that stricter definition the shortest player is Braden Smith of the Indiana Pacers at 5'10". Both answers are defensible depending on which rule you apply — if you see a site saying 5'10" instead of 5'7", that's usually why.
What doesn't change is the all-time record. Bogues has held it since the late 1980s and nobody currently in the league is anywhere close.
The Shortest NBA Player of All Time
Muggsy Bogues is the shortest player to ever appear in an NBA game. Listed at 5'3" and 136 pounds, he played 14 seasons in the league — almost all of it as the starting point guard for the Charlotte Hornets — and put up a career average of 7.6 assists per game along the way. That's not a "here for the novelty" stat line; it's the résumé of a guy who actually ran an NBA offense for a decade and a half at a size most high school coaches would call small for the position. You can dig into his full career numbers on Basketball-Reference.
Nobody else has come close to Bogues since, but a handful of players have gotten within a few inches. Earl Boykins, at 5'5", is the second-shortest player in league history and still holds the distinction of being the shortest player ever to score 30 points in a single NBA game. Wataru Misaka, listed at 5'7", broke a very different kind of barrier — he was drafted by the Knicks in 1947 and became the first non-white player in NBA history, years before the league's racial integration is usually dated. And Red Klotz, also 5'7", is remembered as the shortest player to ever win an NBA championship.
| Player | Height | Years Active | Known For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Muggsy Bogues | 5'3" | 1987–2001 | 14-season career, 7.6 apg average, all-time shortest player |
| Earl Boykins | 5'5" | 1998–2012 | Shortest player to ever score 30+ points in a game |
| Spud Webb | 5'7" | 1985–1998 | Won the 1986 Slam Dunk Contest |
| Wataru Misaka | 5'7" | 1947–48 | First non-white player in NBA history |
| Red Klotz | 5'7" | 1948–50 | Shortest player to win an NBA title |
| Yuki Kawamura | 5'7" | 2024–present | Current shortest active NBA player |
| Calvin Murphy | 5'9" | 1970–1983 | Hall of Famer, shortest player ever inducted |
| Isaiah Thomas | 5'9" | 2011–present | Shortest player to make an All-NBA Team |
| Nate Robinson | 5'9" | 2005–2015 | Three-time Slam Dunk Contest champion |
Heights as officially listed by the NBA; several of these players have been described as an inch or so shorter in interviews over the years.
Short Players Who Became Stars
Being undersized hasn't stopped a fair number of players from reaching the top of the league — Thomas and Webb, covered above, are the two names most people already know. Calvin Murphy is probably the one that gets overlooked most in these conversations. At 5'9", he's the shortest player ever inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, and he did it playing 13 seasons almost entirely with the Houston Rockets. Nate Robinson took a louder path to the same conversation — three Slam Dunk Contest titles, more than anyone else, at a height most people assume rules a player out of that competition entirely. Both are worth a deeper look on Basketball-Reference if you want the full career stat lines.
Why Shorter Players Still Thrive in the Modern NBA
Today's NBA rewards speed, ball-handling and perimeter shooting more than any era before it, which has made room for smaller guards to carve out real roles even as the league's average height has crept up at other positions. Quickness on defense, tight handles in pick-and-roll actions, and the ability to shoot off movement all matter more now than a player's listed height.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is the shortest active NBA player right now?
Yuki Kawamura, who signed with the Los Angeles Clippers in August 2026, is listed at 5'7" and is the shortest player attached to an NBA roster in the 2026-27 season. He began his career with the Memphis Grizzlies and spent time with the Chicago Bulls in between.
Why do some sites say the shortest player is 5'10" instead of 5'7"?
Because Kawamura has played on two-way contracts, which split time between the NBA and the G League. Lists that only count players on standard NBA contracts name Braden Smith of the Indiana Pacers, listed at 5'10", as the shortest instead.
Who is the shortest NBA player of all time?
Muggsy Bogues holds that record at 5'3" and 136 pounds. He played 14 seasons in the NBA across four teams, mostly with the Charlotte Hornets.
Has a player under 5'9" ever made an All-NBA Team?
Isaiah Thomas, listed at 5'9", is the shortest player to ever earn an All-NBA Team selection, doing so during the 2016-17 season with the Boston Celtics.
Who is the shortest player to win the NBA Slam Dunk Contest?
Spud Webb, listed at 5'7", won the 1986 Slam Dunk Contest and remains the shortest player to ever win the event.
