‘World’s tallest basketball player’ makes Shaq look small
(BVM) – One of the world’s tallest people, Abiodun Adegoke, aka “Big Naija,” stands at a towering height of 7 feet 11 inches. The Nigerian amateur basketball player can even dunk over NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal without his feet leaving the ground.
“Anybody that can dunk on me, I’ll give $1 million cash,” O’Neal jokingly said in a video right before Adegoke successfully dunked over him.
@mpacbasketball Did @bignaija just dunk on SHAQ!!??😳 Standformore!!
“I just got dunked on by [Abiodun Adegoke],” O’Neal captioned on his Instagram post.
7'11 Abiodun Adegoke Absolutely Dwarfes Shaquille O'Neal & Dunks On Him While Feet Remain On Floor! 😱 pic.twitter.com/gjUy9ffWwI
— OpenCourt-Basketball (@OpenCourtFB) March 25, 2024
Is Abiodun Adegoke the world’s tallest basketball player?
Seven-foot-eleven Adegoke appears to currently be the world’s tallest amateur basketball player.
However, if Adegoke were to join the NBA, he would be known as the tallest player in league history. After all, Gheorghe Mureșan holds the Guinness World Record for the tallest NBA player of all time at 7-foot-7 (four inches shorter than Adegoke).
The title of the tallest professional basketball player of all time belongs to Suleiman Ali Nashnush – who was 8 feet-0.25 inches tall and played for the Libyan national team in 1962, according to the Guinness World Records.
More on Abiodun Adegoke
Adegoke is an internet sensation because of his 7-foot-11 frame. He first went viral in 2021 when O’Neal posted a video of him on social media. Now, Adegoke has about 150,000 followers on Instagram following his basketball journey.
Adegoke’s early days in basketball involved wearing shoes made from truck tires because his sneaker size wasn’t available, according to The Nigerian Guardian. These days, Adegoke sports a size-53 shoe, according to The US Sun.
Currently, Adegoke plays for the MPCA Elite Youth League, which calls him “the tallest player in the world.”
Highlights reveal that Adegoke can dunk without jumping, shoot with one hand, grip a basketball with just two fingers and also throw the ball across the floor with one hand like a dodgeball.
Adegoke likely doesn’t have a future in the NBA since he has yet to play against high-level talent. He’s estimated to be about 24 years old, per some unclear reports gathered by the NY Post.
“I’m going to keep working,” Adegoke wrote on Instagram. “None of them know my story, none of them know where I come from or what it took to get here. I’m riding with my people! Time will tell!”
