Interactive Infographics Show Longest NBA Teams by Wingspan, Height

In the new NBA, success typically hinges on three-point shooting and stretching the court. As a result, long-armed players who can defend multiple positions and disrupt ball movement have become incredibly valuable. 

But which teams are the longest? And how much difference does it make? I looked at every player’s wingspan and height in the league to see how teams compared. Then I checked to see how much difference length made in defense.

I was able to find the majority of the data from the DraftExpress database, but there were still over 100 players without listed wingspans. I used Google in those cases, filtering through various news reports and scouting reports to determine the best estimate.

For the few players with no available wingspan measurement, I estimated their wingspan at the league average of 1.06 times their height.

Wingspan

But what is “average” length? Merely finding an NBA player’s average length isn’t quite accurate because different positions come with different lengths. So here are each position’s average wingspan and height:

Combining the five averages, then, the average lineup is roughly 415 inches fingertip-to-fingertip.

Based on that, these are the longest teams in the NBA (clicking on the team name will show the combined wingspan):

Surprisingly, the Minnesota Timberwolves are the longest team in the league at 421.81 inches. Considering how much new head coach Tom Thibodeau loves exploiting length in his defense, that could be very interesting.

The Golden State Warriors might not have the deepest team at center since acquiring Kevin Durant, but it’s striking that they’re the third-longest.

The fact that the Milwaukee Bucks are only seventh-longest is startling. However, we’re looking at the whole team’s averages here, not just starters or longest feasible lineups.

At 408.06 inches, the Denver Nuggets are on the other end of the spectrum—nearly two feet smaller than the average Wolves lineup.

Here’s what happens when we only look at the starters:

The Miami Heat are the longest starting team with Chris Bosh and …

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