Gheorghe Dumitru Mureșan (; born 14 February 1971), known as ''the Giant'' () is a Romanian-American former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player. At , he is one of the two tallest players to have played in the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

Early life

Mureșan was born in Tritenii de Jos,

Cluj County Cluj County () is a county () of Romania, in Transylvania. Its seat is Cluj-Napoca. Name In Hungarian language, Hungarian it is known as ''Kolozs megye''. Under the Kingdom of Hungary, a county with an identical name (Kolozs County, ) existed s ...

, Romania. Although his parents' heights were relatively typical, he grew to his remarkable height due to a

pituitary gland The pituitary gland or hypophysis is an endocrine gland in vertebrates. In humans, the pituitary gland is located at the base of the human brain, brain, protruding off the bottom of the hypothalamus. The pituitary gland and the hypothalamus contr ...

disorder called

gigantism Gigantism (, ''gígas'', "wiktionary:giant, giant", plural γίγαντες, ''gígantes''), also known as giantism, is a condition characterized by excessive growth and height significantly above average height, average. In humans, this conditi ...

Professional career

CS Universitatea Cluj-Napoca (1991–1992)

Mureșan played competitive basketball at Universitatea Cluj, becoming national champion in 1992.

Élan Béarnais Pau-Orthez (1992–1993)

Mureșan played professionally in the

French league The French League (: "French League for Purge, purging, mutual aid (politics), mutual aid and European integration, European collaboration") was a Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, collaborationist French movement founded by Pier ...

with Pau-Orthez during the 1992–93 season and was an instant hit with fans, also managing to win the French League Cup.

Washington Bullets / Wizards (1993–1998)

Mureșan was selected by the NBA's

Washington Bullets The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference. The team plays i ...

in the

1993 NBA draft The 1993–94 NBA season, 1993 NBA draft took place on June 30, 1993, at The Palace of Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills, Michigan. The draft had some talented players at the top, but injuries and personal problems hurt many of them. Chris Webber, Pen ...

. He played in the NBA from 1993 to 2000 showing signs of a promising career that was derailed by injuries. His best season came in the 1995–1996 campaign, when he averaged 14.5 points per game. Mureșan was named the NBA's Most Improved Player for the 1995–96 season after averaging 14.5 points, 9.6 rebounds, 2.26 blocks per game while making a league-leading 58.4 percent of his field goals. He led in field goal percentage again the following season, with a 60.4% average. Overall, he holds career averages of 9.8 points, 6.4 rebounds, 0.5 assists, 1.48 blocks per game and a .573 field goal percentage.

New Jersey Nets (1999–2000)

Mureșan joined the

New Jersey Nets New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

for the final 31 games of his NBA career.

Return to Pau-Orthez (2000–2001)

After ending his NBA career, Mureșan had another stint at Pau-Orthez where he won the French league before returning to the United States with his family. He normally wore number 77, in reference to his height. On 11 March 2007, Mureșan played a game for the Maryland Nighthawks as part of the tallest lineup in the history of basketball. This was the only basketball game Mureșan played where he was not the tallest person on the court, as Sun Mingming is .

Other work

In 2004, Mureșan founded the Giant Basketball Academy (GBA), a program dedicated to teaching the proper fundamentals of basketball to boys and girls of all ages. The Academy is located in

Ashburn, Virginia Ashburn is a unincorporated settlement and census-designated place (CDP) in Loudoun County, Virginia, United States. At the 2020 United States census, its population was 46,349, up from 3,393 in 1990. It is northwest of Washington, D.C., and par ...

. Mureșan is also part of the Washington Wizards marketing and public relations team, serving as an "ambassador" for the team. Mureșan co-authored two young adult fitness and health books: ''The Boy's Fitness Guide'' and ''The Girl's Fitness Guide''. In 2013, Mureșan participated in the first annual 3v3 UMTTR (You Matter) Basketball Tournament to increase awareness, prevention and research of teen suicide, the leading cause of death among adults and children between the ages of 15 and 24.

Acting

Outside basketball, Mureșan has dabbled in acting, playing the title character in 1998 feature film '' My Giant'' starring comedian

Billy Crystal William Edward Crystal (born March 14, 1948)On page 17 of his book ''700 Sundays'', Crystal displays his birth announcement, which gives his first two names as "William Edward", not "William Jacob" is an American comedian, actor, and filmmaker. ...

. Mureșan also acted in the films '' Adventures of Serial Buddies'' (2011) and '' Manodrome'' (2023). He appeared as a

ventriloquist Ventriloquism or ventriloquy is an act of stagecraft in which a person (a ventriloquist) speaks in such a way that it seems like their voice is coming from a different location, usually through a puppet known as a "dummy". The act of ventrilo ...

in the music video for

Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem, is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all time, he is credited with popula ...

's breakthrough single " My Name Is". He has appeared in commercials for

Snickers Snickers (stylized in all caps) is a chocolate bar consisting of nougat topped with Caramel#Candy, caramel and peanuts, all encased in milk chocolate. The bars are made by the American company Mars Inc. The annual global sales of Snickers is ...

candy bars, and sports television network

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

Personal life

Mureșan and his wife Liliana and sons George and Victor have resided in

Franklin Lakes, New Jersey Franklin Lakes is a borough in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 11,079, an increase of 489 (+4.6%) from the 2010 census count of 10,590, which in turn reflected ...

, but they relocated to the suburbs of

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Since the 2016–2017 season, his oldest son, George, has played for the

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

Hoyas as a walk-on forward. His younger son Victor joined the Hoyas as a walk-on in the 2020–2021 season. Victor is and .

Career statistics

NBA

Regular season

, - , style="text-align:left;", 1993–94 , style="text-align:left;",

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

, 54 , , 2 , , 12.0 , , .545 , , .000 , , .676 , , 3.6 , , 0.3 , , 0.5 , , 0.9 , , 5.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1994–95 , style="text-align:left;",

, 73 , , 58 , , 23.6 , , .560 , , .000 , , .709 , , 6.7 , , 0.5 , , 0.7 , , 1.7 , , 10.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1995–96 , style="text-align:left;",

, 76 , , 76 , , 29.5 , , style="background:#cfecec;", .584* , , .000 , , .619 , , 9.6 , , 0.7 , , 0.7 , , 2.3 , , 14.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1996–97 , style="text-align:left;",

, 73 , , 69 , , 25.3 , , style="background:#cfecec;", .604* , , .000 , , .618 , , 6.6 , , 0.4 , , 0.6 , , 1.3 , , 10.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1998–99 , style="text-align:left;",

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, 1 , , 0 , , 1.0 , , .000 , , .000 , , .000 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0, , 0.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1999–00 , style="text-align:left;",

, 30 , , 2 , , 8.9 , , .456 , , .000 , , .605 , , 2.3 , , 0.3 , , 0.0 , , 0.4 , , 3.5 , - class=sortbottom , style="text-align:center;" colspan=2, Career , 307 , , 207 , , 21.9 , , .573 , , .000 , , .644 , , 6.4 , , 0.5 , , 0.6 , , 1.5 , , 9.8

Playoffs

, - , style="text-align:left;",

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 3 , , 3 , , 23.3 , , .444 , , – , , .875 , , 6.0 , , .0 , , .0 , , 1.3 , , 5.0

References

External links

* (archived from 2002)
Gheorghe Muresan profile at InterBasket
*
Georghe Muresan Trading Cards/Autographs Page

NBA.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Muresan, Gheorghe 1971 births Living people Centers (basketball) Élan Béarnais players New Jersey Nets players People with gigantism Romanian emigrants to the United States Romanian expatriate basketball people in France Romanian expatriate basketball people in the United States Romanian male film actors Romanian men's basketball players Sportspeople from Cluj County Sportspeople from Franklin Lakes, New Jersey U-BT Cluj-Napoca players Washington Bullets draft picks Washington Bullets players