Are You Suited To Dunking? Check Your Wingspan

By Max Kesler

Updated

1 Comment

man showing wingspan

Basketball is an incredibly picky sport. Unlike Soccer, Baseball and to a lesser extent Football, the vast majority of us would never become pro based on our stats alone, unless we had something really, really exceptional going for us.

Of those measurements, the most obvious is height. You also become conscious of your hand size as I did while learning to dunk, as controlling the ball becomes an additional challenge. But wingspan is something you might not have really considered before.

The average man has a wingspan 2.1 inches longer than his height, while the average NBA player’s wingspan exceeds their barefoot height by over 4.5 inches. That’s a pretty significant figure that suggests NBA players aren’t just absurdly tall, but tend to have a unique body-type.

 

small wingspan
Henry Cavill – Short arms
Long wingspan
Rajon Rondo – Long arms

So, how do you fare? I measured my wingspan to be around 6’35” which is above average considering I stand just below 6’1″. That is not to say I’m a dunking natural, far from it, but I guess it puts me in the ‘safe-zone.’

author avatar hoopsbeast
Written by Max Kesler

Max Kesler, a Philly native, is the chief editor at HoopsBeast. He has covered the game at NBA and NCAA levels. He hopes to see his beloved 76ers win a championship soon.

1 thought on “Are You Suited To Dunking? Check Your Wingspan”

  1. First of all I just want to say the Jump Manual is awesome-it’s the real deal. I coduln’t agree more with the training methods. I don’t want to bore you with my life story. I was hell bent on being able to dunk-it became an obsession. I bought training manuals like yours-but those that taught me to do hundreds and hundreds of repetitions. Being used to working my butt[sic] off in the gym these workouts worked me hard and I figured for sure that they’d work for me, but I saw only little improvements. I then bought And by training this way I went from having a hard time grabbing rim with one hand with a running start, to being able to grab with two hands with a 3-4 step start. I was surprised and glad that I was improving, but far from content. I have a HUGE reach advantage I really appreciate it.. Thanks a million

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