Fact-Checking Grant Hill's Height: Did the Nba Overstate His Stature?
Ahead of the 2019, 20 season, the league enacted a mandatory NBA player height remeasurement rule. Commissioner Adam Silver mandated that all 30 teams submit verified, certified barefoot measurements conducted by team physicians without footwear.
The immediate result was chaos across active roster cards. Kevin Durant, long thought to be 6-foot-9, was officially measured at 6-foot-10 barefoot. Conversely, Draymond Green dropped from 6-foot-7 to 6-foot-5.75, and Dwight Howard lost an inch and a half down to 6-foot-9.75.
Applying that exact 2019 standard retroactively to Hill’s Basketball Hall of Fame profile clarifies the historical record:
- Under the modern rule, Hill would enter modern box scores listed as 6-foot-7.
- The previous regime permitted players to wear their game shoes during official media day tape measurements, adding roughly 1.5 inches.
- Unlike some guards who lobbied to be listed taller or big men like Kevin Garnett who shaved inches off their profiles to avoid playing center, Hill never manipulated his metrics. Detroit staff simply rounded his 6-foot-8.25 in-shoe measurement to an even 6-foot-8.