Man, you won’t believe the rabbit hole I fell into today. It all started with a simple question: How tall was Nate Thurmond? You know, the basketball legend? I always thought he was super tall, but I wanted to know the exact number. So, I started digging.
First, I just did a quick search. Boom! Right there, clear as day, most sources say he’s 6 feet 11 inches. Okay, that’s tall. Like, really tall. But then I started noticing something. Some of these articles, they started talking about how the NBA lists players’ heights without shoes. And how they measure them with and without shoes at the NBA Draft Combines. Apparently, the official listings are the with-shoes heights.
So, now I’m thinking, “Wait a minute, was Nate Thurmond really 6’11”, or was that his height with shoes on?” It’s like a whole conspiracy, right? I went deeper. I found this list of the tallest NBA players ever. It had this guy, Gheorghe Mureșan, at the top. They listed him as 7’7″. That’s a giant! But it also mentioned that he was Romanian. It didn’t really clear up anything about Nate, though.
Then I stumbled upon this page with all sorts of details about Nate Thurmond. His teams, his jersey numbers, even his shoes! But what caught my eye were his stats. They listed his height again as 6’11” (211cm) and his weight as 225 pounds (102kg). It also mentioned he was drafted in 1963, in the first round, by the Golden State Warriors. Man, he was picked third overall! That’s huge. But that still didn’t explain the whole shoe thing.
- I kept going, I found some more background info on him.
- His full name was Nathaniel Thurmond.
- He was born on July 25, 1941, and passed away on July 16, 2016.
- He was 74.
People were saying he had the best mix of offense and defense ever! I mean, the guy was a legend. But, the whole height thing was still bugging me. It felt weird. Most websites just list his height at 6’11”.
So, here’s the conclusion I came to after all this searching:
Nate Thurmond was officially listed as 6 feet 11 inches tall. That’s probably his height with shoes on. Whether he was a bit shorter without shoes, we might never know for sure. But honestly, does it really matter? The guy was an incredible player, and his height, whatever the exact number was, was definitely a big part of his game.
It just goes to show you, sometimes a simple question can lead you down a crazy path. But hey, at least I learned a lot about Nate Thurmond and the weird world of NBA heights along the way!
