How tall is Michael Jordan?

Michael Jordan's official height: 6′6″

Michael Jordan is 198 cm, or 6′6″, the height on his official NBA.com player profile and the figure the site uses. It is one of the most stable listings in sport. From his arrival at the University of North Carolina through his Chicago Bulls championships and his final seasons with the Washington Wizards, Jordan was listed at 6′6″, and the number has become as familiar to basketball fans as his jersey number, 23.

The stability is worth noting because NBA heights have historically been inconsistent. Before the league tightened its rules in 2019, requiring teams to submit heights measured without shoes, listings often included sneakers or were rounded up for marketing, and some players were listed taller than they measured. Jordan's 6′6″ has never been seriously questioned by reputable sources, and photographs of him with players of well-documented height are consistent with it. Because he retired long before the 2019 rule, there is no modern barefoot measurement on record.

The weight figures differ more than the height. NBA.com's 216 lb reflects the more muscular Jordan of the 1990s, when he added strength to absorb contact from defenses designed to stop him. As a rookie in 1984–85 he was a slimmer, springier player, and some databases carry that earlier weight.

The high school growth spurt

Jordan's height is wrapped up in one of the best-known stories in sport. He was born on February 17, 1963, in Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in Wilmington, North Carolina. As a sophomore at Emsley A. Laney High School, he tried out for the varsity team and was left off the roster, with his height of about 5′11″ cited as a reason. He played junior varsity instead and scored 40 points in several games.

The following summer, he grew roughly four inches and worked relentlessly on his game. He made the varsity roster as a junior and averaged more than 25 points per game over his final two high school seasons. By the time he arrived at North Carolina in 1981 he was close to his adult height, and he continued to fill out through college.

The story is often told as a lesson in determination, and it is. It is also a lesson in how much adolescent growth varies. Boys typically have their fastest growth spurt between about 12 and 15, but the timing differs widely, and a late developer can be short among classmates at 15 and well above average at 18. Coaches making roster decisions about teenagers are, in effect, betting on growth that has not happened yet. For parents curious about a child's likely adult height, the site's height calculator explains the published prediction methods and their limits.

Height and the shooting guard position

Jordan played shooting guard for most of his career, with stretches at small forward. At 6′6″, he was on the taller side for a guard of his era but well within the range: many shooting guards of the 1980s and 1990s stood between 6′3″ and 6′6″, and Jordan's dominance came from a combination of attributes rather than height alone.

• Leaping ability. Jordan's vertical leap became legendary. He won the NBA Slam Dunk Contest in 1987 and 1988, and his dunks from the free-throw line, 15 feet from the basket, helped give him the nickname "Air Jordan."
• Hands. He was known for unusually large hands, which let him palm the ball easily, control it in the air and finish acrobatic layups.
• Speed and body control. He could change direction mid-air and absorb contact without losing balance.
• Defense. At 6′6″ with long arms and quick feet, he could guard multiple positions. He won Defensive Player of the Year in 1988, a rare honor for a guard.

His height also made him an effective post player late in his career. As his athleticism declined in the mid-1990s, he increasingly used his size to back down smaller guards and shoot his famous fadeaway jumper over them, a shot that was nearly impossible to block.

Career highlights

His 30.1-point career scoring average remains the highest in NBA history. Between his two Bulls three-peats, he spent 1994 playing minor league baseball for the Birmingham Barons, the Chicago White Sox's Double-A affiliate, an experiment that gave baseball scouts a rare look at a 6′6″ outfielder. He later played two seasons for the Wizards (2001–2003) and was majority owner of the Charlotte Hornets from 2010 to 2023.

Jordan beside teammates and rivals

Jordan's era was full of players whose heights tell a story about how basketball has changed. The heights below come from the site's data.

Two of the most interesting comparisons are with his own teammates. Scottie Pippen was 6 cm taller, and Dennis Rodman, one of the best rebounders in history, was only about 3 cm taller despite playing power forward. The Bulls' second three-peat was built around three perimeter-sized players who outworked bigger opponents.

The comparison with Kobe Bryant is the closest of all: both are listed at 198 cm, both played shooting guard, and Kobe modeled much of his game on Jordan's, down to the fadeaway jumper. Their identical listed heights are one reason debates between the two are so evenly matched.

To see any of these players next to Jordan, use the 3D height comparison tool.

The Dream Team: Jordan among the giants of 1992

The 1992 US Olympic team in Barcelona, the original "Dream Team," offers a neat snapshot of where Jordan stood among the best players of his generation. The team went 8–0, won by an average of 43.8 points and beat Croatia 117–85 in the gold medal game on August 8, 1992. Its official roster listed Jordan at 6′6″ and 198 lb, the same weight carried in some reference databases today.

Jordan was the second-shortest player on the team, ahead only of point guard John Stockton and level with Charles Barkley. Yet he was its leading figure, and the famous closed-door scrimmage in Monte Carlo before the Games, in which Jordan's side beat Magic Johnson's, is often cited as the best basketball game nobody saw. On a roster of Hall of Famers, the man at the lower end of the height range was the one everyone else measured themselves against.

The table also shows how balanced the team was. With Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Karl Malone all at 6′9″ and three centers at 6′11″ or taller, the Dream Team had size at every position, which let its guards and wings, Jordan above all, attack without worrying about rebounds.

Jordan and LeBron: the height debate within the GOAT debate

The argument over basketball's greatest player usually comes down to Jordan and LeBron James. Height is part of the conversation. LeBron is listed at 206 cm (6′9″), about 8 cm taller, and is considerably heavier. That size lets him play every position and bully smaller defenders, while Jordan relied more on footwork, shooting and leaping.

Height differences between eras complicate the comparison. NBA players today are not dramatically taller than in Jordan's era, but the style of play has changed, with more emphasis on three-point shooting and spacing. A 6′6″ wing who could defend, rebound and score at every level would still be among the most valuable players in the modern game.

Compared with the average American man

Jordan's height is striking against the general population. The CDC's 2015–2018 NHANES survey, which measured more than 5,000 American men aged 20 and over, found a median height of 175.4 cm and a 95th percentile of 187.4 cm. At 198 cm, Jordan is about 23 cm above the median and well beyond the 95th percentile. Roughly one American man in several hundred is as tall as Jordan.

The birth-cohort view tells the same story. On the site's United States average height page, NCD-RisC puts American men of the 1956 and 1976 cohorts at 177.2 cm and 177.5 cm, the two generations that bracket Jordan's 1963 birth year, which leaves him roughly 21 cm above his contemporaries. Within the NBA, of course, he was close to ordinary: among professional basketball players, 6′6″ is near the middle of the distribution.

To see how 198 cm ranks in other countries, use the height percentile calculator.

Height and the Jordan brand

Jordan's height is woven into one of the most successful brands in sports history. The Air Jordan line, launched by Nike in 1985, built its marketing around flight, most famously in the "Jumpman" logo, a silhouette of Jordan soaring toward the basket with his legs spread. The image works because Jordan's height combined with his leaping made him look like he was floating above defenders.

That image of a 6′6″ guard rising above taller centers became central to how basketball was marketed globally in the 1990s. Jordan was not the tallest player on the floor, but he often looked like the highest.

Summary

Michael Jordan stands 6′6″ (198 cm), a height that has been consistent across his entire career. He was cut from his high school varsity at about 5′11″ and grew four inches the following summer. In the NBA he was a typical height for a wing, shorter than many of his greatest rivals and teammates, but his leaping ability, hands and competitive drive made him play far above his size. For more athletes and their heights, see the celebrity height directory.

For young players, the most useful part of his story may be the least glamorous: the sophomore who was told he was too short kept working while he waited to grow, and was ready when the growth came. Height opened the door to the NBA, but the skills he built as a 5′11″ junior varsity guard, ball handling, shooting and relentless competitiveness, are what made him Michael Jordan.