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The Greatest NBA Unicorns That Are 5'9" and Under

David Astramskas (Redapples)

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Publish Date: 01/11/2025

Fact checked by: Allan Howe

How KRISTAPS PORZINGIS Became an NBA Unicorn!

When a basketball player is labeled a "UNICORN," there's a great chance that the player is very tall, shoots threes, and has decent handles. It's been that way since Kevin Durant coined the term when talking about Kristaps Porzingis during his 2005/06 rookie season.

"He can shoot, he can make the right plays, he can defend, he's a 7-footer that can shoot all the way out to the 3-point line. That's rare. And block shots. That's like a unicorn in this league."

Since the term wasn't part of mainstream pop culture yet, some people, including the unicorn, didn't understand it.

"At first I was a little confused. I was like, what is this?" Porzingis said during an appearance on Jimmy Fallon. "A horse with a ponytail? What does it mean? But then they explained it to me. What he tried to say was that I am a unique player. It was nice to hear him say good things about me."

The key word is "unique." Not tall. And that's why when I think of NBA unicorns, one of the first players I think of is Charles Barkley, who led the league in rebounding at 6'5." And the other is a player you never see in Unicorn conversations: Tyrone "Muggsy" Bogues!

The 5'3" Bogues celebrated his 60th birthday this weekend, and Yahoo's Dan Devine had the perfect tweet that sums up how I feel:

"I don't know if it qualifies as a hot take, but I think it is reasonable to believe that a 5-foot-3 dude carving out a 14-year NBA career is more of a unicorn than a 7-foot guy who can shoot 3s and stuff. To be clear: this is in no way intended as a slight to or diminishment of 7-footers who shoot 3s and stuff! In the broad sweep of basketball history, that is an incredible and incredibly rare thing, and it is very cool, and I like it. Just saluting Muggsy as a one-of-one."

In honor of the one-of-one that is Muggsy Bogues, here are a few "Little Unicorns" that are 5'10" and under.

MUGGSY BOGUES

The average height of NBA players in the 90s was 6'6", and the average career length was 4 years. Bogues, at 5'3", was the shortest player in NBA history, and he lasted 14 years in the NBA. When I say he lasted, I don't mean he was the last man on the bench, on a roster for inspiration or a favor for a teammate; he was a starter for 11 seasons and was good for a double-double in almost half of those.

During the 1993/94 season, he averaged a career-high 11 points with 10 assists (4th in the league) while turning the ball over just 1.6 times! Most of those assists went to the dynamic duo of Larry Johnson and Alonzo Mourning and one of the best shooters in the league, Dell Curry. It was also around this time that Bogues babysat Dell's son and gave him airplane rides around the locker room.

How Good Was Muggsy Bogues Actually?

I should also mention that Bogues was a star long before he was dishing out assists to Grandmama, acting in SPACE JAM or appearing on SNL with Nirvana, RuPaul, and Charles Barkley. Bogues was the starting point guard to arguably the greatest high school team ever: The Dunbar Poets. That 80s team had three other future NBA players (Reggie Lewis, Reggie Williams, and David Wingate) and went undefeated during their junior and senior years.

After dominating high school, he took his game to Wake Forest and left the school as the all-time leader in Assist and Steals. At the time, he was also the ACC career leader in Assists and Steals.

Before going 12th in the NBA Draft, he made a pit stop to win Gold at the 1986 FIBA World Championship and Rookie Of The Year in the United States Basketball League (USBL) with averages of 22 points and 8 assists per game.

As impressive as his resume was going into the NBA, I can't imagine many people believing the 5'3" point guard would last very long or have much of an impact in the NBA. When he was traded from the Hornets to the Warriors after 10 seasons, he left as the franchise leader in Assists and Steals and the NBA all-time leader in assist-to-turnover ratio.

Despite nagging injuries and coming off the bench for half a season, Bogues led Golden State in assists.

His next stop was Toronto, where he was reunited with Del Curry and would often play 1-on-1 with the grown-up kid he used to give airplane rides to in Charlotte. It was in Toronto, where he had one of his most surprising games. On March 3, 2000, a 35-year-old Bogues tied his career-high of 24 points on 100% shooting in 28 minutes off the bench.

STANDOUT GAMES

10 PTS, 8 AST, 2 BLK!!!
13 PTS, 17 AST, 7 STL
24 PTS, 10 AST (9/11 FG)
22 PTS, 10 AST (9/10 FG)
20 PTS, 15 AST (9/10 FG)
18 PTS, 17 AST, 0 TO
And he once blocked Patrick Ewing

As for that kid, he proved many critics wrong during his basketball journey to becoming a unicorn with the Golden State Warriors.

Muggsy Bogues talks about spending time with Steph Curry!

SPUD WEBB

The average male height is 5'9 ". I don't have an official stat, but I'm 100% sure that 99% of 5'9" males in the history of the United States can not dunk on a 10" rim. Of those very few and lucky who could dunk, only one was capable of making the NBA and then beating one of the top five greatest dunkers ever in a dunk contest. His name is Anthony Jerome "Spud" Webb!

Unlike Bogues, Webb didn't enter the NBA as a high-draft prospect. It took four rounds before the Pistons selected him. They released him before he even had a chance to put on a preseason jersey. After a successful tryout with the Atlanta Hawks, he earned a roster spot and put up 12 points and 10 assists in his NBA debut.

Later that season, he became a household name when he competed in the 1986 NBA Slam Dunk Contest in his hometown of Dallas. His competitors included Terence "Statue of Liberty Dunk" Stansbury, Gerald Wilkins, Jerome Kersey, and his Atlanta teammate Dominique "Human Highlight Film" Wilkins, who had won the previous year's event and reportedly didn't know Webb could even dunk.

NBA Legends Explain How amazing 5Ft7 Spud Webb was

Webb shocked the crowd with basic one and two-hand dunks before leaving Michael Jordan in awe with a 360. The end of the Cinderella night was a reverse dunk off the bounce that most 5'7" males couldn't pull off on an 8-foot goal.

The interesting thing about Webb's career is he's most known as a Hawk because of the dunk contest, but his most productive and impressive seasons came in Sacramento during the second half of his 12-year career.

In Cowbell kingdom, Webb averaged career highs in points and assists, averaging 14 and 7 over four seasons.

STANDOUT GAMES

34 PTS (14/26 FG) in 35 MINS
32 PTS, 12 AST (12/20 FG)
32 PTS, 8 AST, 7 REB, 4 3PT
29 PTS, 17 AST, 4 STL (10/15 FG)
28 PTS, 7 AST (4/5 3PT)
24 PTS, 9 AST, 9 REB
15 PTS, 8 AST, 5 STL, 2 BLK

NATE ROBINSON

Nate was the 2000s version of Spud Webb. He had an extra two inches, but his dunks were also twice as impressive (even if he had 100 chances to do them). And that is why Nate is the only 3 x NBA Dunk Champion.

2006: He beat Andre Iguodala, Josh Smith, and Hakim Warrick. The most memorable dunk was when he brought out Webb and jumped over him.
2009: He beat JR Smith, Rudy Gay, and defending Champion Dwight Howard, who allowed Nate to jump over him.
2010: He beat DeMar DeRozan, Gerald Wallace, and favorite Shannon Brown, who disappointed everyone behind the LetShannonDunk campaign.

Nate played 11 years in the NBA, with his best coming in 2008/09 when he was third in Sixth Man Of The Year voting after averaging a career-high 17.2 points for the Knicks. He ended up playing for seven teams in his final six years. The most memorable was his one year in Chicago, where he had some big Playoff performances against the Nets and Heat.

An interesting thing about Nate is that he's a multi-sport athlete who went to college on a football scholarship. After his NBA career, he participated in a boxing match that didn't go so well for him.

STANDOUT GAMES

45 PTS, 6 REB, 6 AST (16/28 FG)
41 PTS, 8 REB (11/18 FG) off the bench
41 PTS, 8 AST (18/24 FG) off the bench
34 PTS, 7 AST, 1 TO (12/22 FG)
31 PTS, 6 REB (8/9 3PT) off the bench
15 PTS, 7 REB, 3 STL, 3 BLK!!!

Nate Robinson's Top 10 Plays of his Career

CALVIN MURPHY

Speaking of multi-sport athletes, the 5'9" Calvin Murphy once wore a hockey helmet in an NBA game. Wait, what?!

This is one of the many reasons why you shouldn't compare eras. Today's players benefit from the best medicine and technology money can buy. In the early 80s, if you had a concussion and the team was worried about you getting brain damage, they would just modify a hocket helmet and wish you the best.

As if that wasn't strange enough, Murphy used to wear up to 8 pairs of socks, was a world-class baton twirler, and, at age 39, was the first overall pick in the International Basketball Association league made for players 6'4" and under. Other notable names from that draft include Baseball/Football player Bo Jackson, boxer Thomas Hearns, and Michael Jordan's brother, Larry.

If you remove all the odd trivia and jokes about the suits he's now famous for or the fact that he has ten daughters, you have one great player who made the Hall of Fame (the shortest player ever inducted into the Hall) by being a scoring machine while also being the shortest player in the league. His career-high of 57 is also the most points ever scored by a player 5'10" and under.

STANDOUT GAMES

57 PTS (24/40 FG)
45 PTS, 8 AST (18/25 FG)
42 PTS (16/27 FG) off the bench
40 PTS, 6 AST (15/23 FG)
38 PTS, 10 AST (16/21 FG)

Red on Roundball - dribbling w/ Calvin Murphy [HD]

EARL BOYKINS

The least-known name among the little Unicorns is Earl "Motherf****g" Boykins (Shout out to the people who remember the graphic). Like Murphy, the 5'5" shooting guard could put up big numbers when given the green light. His first 30-point game in the NBA made him the shortest player in NBA history to drop 30 in a game. And he scored 30+ points six more times, including a career-high 36 twice.

Here are some of his best games during his 13 seasons in the NBA.

36 PTS, 9 AST (63% FG)
36 PTS (65% FG)
33 PTS, 8 AST, 1 TO
32 PTS (73% FG)
29 PTS, 7 REB, 6 AST in 29 MINS
28 PTS, 7 AST (73% FG)

I forgot to mention that the 13-year vet went undrafted. Imagine a 5'5" player going undrafted, finding his way onto an NBA roster, and then playing 13 seasons because it was hard for NBA defenses to stop him from scoring.

Earl Boykins: A BONAFIDE SCORER! The Career of the 2nd Shortest Player in NBA HISTORY | FPP

HONORABLE MENTION: MICHAEL ADAMS

If the cutoff was 5'10" instead of 5'9", then I probably would have talked about guys like 1996 Rookie Of The Year Damon "Mighty Mouse" Stoudamire and 5'10" Michael Adams, who was the first player I remember being a true three-point threat. The master of the double behind-the-back pass would often jack up 10+ threes in a game when the average NBA team attempted less than 10 threes a game.

Some of the best from the 3rd-round pick/1992 All-Star