Almost always, the NBA has welcomed some players of extraordinary size, some of whom have even ended up in the record books. One of them, who culminated at 2m30 under the fathom, had even had to resort to a crazy technique to be able to drive his Volvo. A lunar anecdote…
Since the departure of Tacko Fall to other horizons, the tallest current player in the NBA is called Boban Marjanovic, from the top of his 2m24. Then come Bol Bol and Kristaps Porzingis (2m21), while waiting for the mutant Victor Wembanyama to arrive in the league and be officially measured. These giants are however rather moderate compared to certain monsters of the past, two of which exceeded 2m30: Manute Bol, and Gheorghe Muresan, both culminating at 2m31.
Gheorghe Muresan forced to break his car to drive it
It is precisely the Romanian who is the subject of this article, he who had an honest career in the NBA in the 1990s on the side of Washington, and, more briefly, the Nets. Now 51 years old, the guy has maintained a good popularity rating in DC, and it is clear that he does not go unnoticed during each of his stays in the capital – the proof below:
Unexpectedly, Denis Brogniart has a tasty anecdote about the former pivot. During Muresan’s rapid passage to Pau-Orthez in 1992-1993, it turns out that the host of Koh-Lanta was a young sports journalist, sent to the South West to cover one of the club’s meetings. The rest, he told it at the microphone of Tony Parker’s podcast:
My craziest memory about the size is when I went to do a report in Pau and saw Gheorghe Muresan. He had a Volvo, and the driver’s seat had been removed so he could drive from the back seat! It was crazy… I saw him bend over backwards to get into his car. There was only one seat on his side.
A scene that may seem grotesque, but which is nevertheless one of the many problems that giants encounter on a daily basis. The size of hotel beds and ceilings in rooms are some of the other issues that can quickly become problematic for men of 2m20 or 2m20. Parker himself confessed that he had never felt so small as when he found himself next to Yao Ming…
Tearing off the front seat to drive from the back seat is no joke but indeed the only technique that Gheorghe Muresan has found to be able to fully benefit from his vehicle. More than three decades later, Denis Brogniart has still not recovered from his moment of amazement in front of the stage!
