When the NBA first began, the strategy was often to bring the tallest players onto the court and pass the ball between them. This strategy produced some of the greatest players in 1960, like Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell. Likewise, there are a bunch of elite centers in the WNBA who have contributed so much to their teams because of their height and skills. Let’s have a look at the ten tallest players in the history of the WNBA.
#10 Katie Mattera – 6’8”
Mattera was the 8th overall pick in the 2005 WNBA Draft by the Connecticut Sun and one of the tallest women to play in the WNBA. She was quickly traded to the San Antonio Silver Stars. Katie averaged 6.7 points in 150 career games. Her WNBA career ended in 2009 after stints with the Silver Stars, Detroit Shock, Atlanta Dream, and Chicago Sky. Even before entering the league, she was a spectacular player in college and the tallest woman to play in the Big South Conference.
#9 Razija Brcaninovic – 6’8”
If the women’s basketball league had started a decade earlier, Brcaninovic would have been a bigger star in the sport. The Serbian player played only one year in the league and averaged 9.1 points and 5.1 rebounds in 30 games for the Detroit Shock in 1998. Despite her height, Razija averaged less than a block per game. She scored 25 points in the second-last game of her WNBA career.
#8 Zheng Haixia – 6’8”
During the inaugural season of the WNBA in 1997, Haixia was not only the tallest player in the league but also the heaviest, weighing 254 pounds. During that season,she was at least three inches and 29 pounds taller than every other female basketball player. The Chinese player played two seasons for the Los Angeles Sparks and averaged 8.9 points and 4.4 rebounds per game.
#7 Maria Stepanova – 6’8”
Stepanova played for the Phoenix Mercury from 1988–2001. After a lengthy hiatus from the league, she retired for the 2005 season and continued playing for the 2005 season. During this, Stepanova averaged career highs of 10.8 points and 2.5 blocks per game. The Russian player also won the FIBA Europe Women’s Player of the Year award three times. She is one of those female basketball players who achieved most of their basketball success away from the WNBA.
#6 Lindsay Taylor – 6’8”
Of the tallest players on this list, no woman has played fewer games in the WNBA than Lindsay Taylor. As a rookie in 2004, she appeared in five games for the Phoenix Mercury. Taylor never suited up for a WNBA team again in the regular season. Lindsay played professional basketball overseas for over a decade. She was selected as the second-round pick after being named Big West Player of the Year at UC Santa Barbara.
#5 Brittney Griner – 6’9″
Griner was the first overall pick in the 2013 WNBA Draft by the Phoenix Mercury and has been playing for the team since. She helped the United States win gold medals at two Summer Olympics and two Women’s World Cups. She is an eight-time All-Star and has also led the league in blocks eight times. Griner was detained in Russia for possessing marijuana cartridges and was forced to miss the 2022 WNBA season, but now she is back in America and has re-signed with the Mercury.
#4 Liz Cambage – 6’9″
Cambage was drafted by Tulsa Shock in 2011 and she took the WNBA by storm. The Australian player set a WNBA single-game scoring record with 53 points and led the league with 23 points per game that season. Cambage has been an All-Star with four different WNBA teams. She left the league just after three years to play overseas before making a miraculous return to the Wings in 2018.
#3 Han Xu – 6’10”
Xu is currently the tallest active female basketball player and the third tallest player in WNBA history. She is from China and taller than any other player in the league, so she is also called the female Yao Ming. Xu was drafted by the New York Liberty in 2019 but missed two seasons due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She was also selected as part of the All-Star Five at the 2022 FIBA Women’s World Cup.
#2 Bernadett Hatar – 6’10”
Despite being one of the tallest female players in the WNBA, Hutter didn’t have much success in the league. She dominated the EuroLeague and EuroBasket for her home country and then entered the WNBA in 2021. She played seven games during her stint with the Indiana Fever and soon they parted ways.
#1 Margo Dydek – 7’2″
Margo Dydek is the tallest basketball player in the history of the WNBA and that too by a big margin. She is the only seven-foot player to play in the league. Dydek was the first overall pick in the 1988 Draft, selected by the Utah Starzz. She went on to play for three different teams and became the league’s all-time record holder for blocks with 877. She died in 2011 at the age of 37, three years after concluding her 11-year WNBA career.
Also Read:- NBA Players Who Scored the Most Points in their Debut
