Why the NBA’s New Height Listing Regulations are Short-Sighted

Originally published by SLiC Sports on October 5th, 2019

NBA players are notorious for embellishing their height. Often, players will stretch their listings to be more impressive on paper, and better fit the positions they want to play.

However, coming next NBA season, your favorite player might be knocked down a size.

Starting this year, the NBA announced that all teams must report their players’ precise height and age by the end of training camp. Also, players are no longer allowed to wear shoes during their measurements.

It’s no secret that NBA teams have been inflating their player’s listed heights for decades. One of the most notable examples is the viral photo of Kevin Durant, listed at 6'9, who’s clearly taller than his former teammate Demarcus Cousins, listed at 6'11.

However, while the new regulations may cut down some of the leagues more extreme offenders of height fraud, this new system causes more problems than it solves.

Unless you’re Mike Miller, players always compete in shoes, which generally adds an inch or so to a player’s height. By listing a player by his without-shoes height, the NBA presents its players at a shorter height than they are on the court.

NBA Draft Combines even recognize the differences, as they take measurements of players with and without shoes, but ultimately list the with-shoes height for their prospects.

The new rules also make it difficult to compare players historically. If future NBA players are only measured without-shoes, there is no reliable way to compare their heights to past NBA players that only have with-shoes measurements.

The regulations may also change the height standard considered for its on-court positions. If players across the league lose inches on their listings, the average height for positions will follow suit.

Collegiate and NBA prospects would receive the blunt end of this, as players could become pigeonholed at different positions they wouldn’t otherwise play due to height standards.

For example, if the average height for an NBA small forward drops from 6'8 to 6'7, then a prospect listed at 6'8 would now be more likely to be seen as a power forward, whereas before the rule change, he would have been viewed as a small forward.

This new policy ultimately creates an unnecessary adjustment in development for young players that wouldn’t further bring on any positive benefits.

Overall, while the NBA’s new policies have the right intentions, the consequences of the new regulations are far greater than its benefits.