The Houston Rockets opened the 2025–26 NBA Season by trotting out a starting lineup of Amen Thompson and Kevin Durant at the guards and Jabari Smith Jr., Alperen Sengun, and Steven Adams.
Houston’s five-man opener against the Oklahoma City Thunder is notable because it made history as the tallest starting lineup on opening night in the NBA since the league started tracking starters way back in the 1970–71 NBA Season.
Thompson, at 6-foot-7, is the shortest of these five but is probably taller than most starting point guards in the league. Durant, Smith, Sengun, and Adams are all listed at 6-foot-11.
Rockets’ Starting Lineup Was Tall, But There’s Been Taller
That starting lineup is no doubt huge. But it isn’t the tallest in NBA history, coming up just a couple of inches short of being outright historic. Combined, the heights of Thompson, Durant, Smith, Sengun, and Adams total 411 inches. Again, that’s a tall starting lineup for sure, but it’s only the third tallest ever in NBA history!
The record for tallest starting lineup ever was set way back in the lockout-shortened 1999 NBA Season by the Dallas Mavericks. On May 4, 1999, that pre-Mark Cuban Mavs team trotted out a starting lineup of Hubert Davis (6-foot-5), Michael Finley (6-foot-7), Dirk Nowitzki (7-foot), Chris Anstey (7-foot), and Shawn Bradley (7-foot-6). That’s a combined 414 inches in height.
In second place, with a combined 412 inches in height, was the starting lineup that the Denver Nuggets regularly used in the 2020 NBA Bubble: Nikola Jokić (7-foot), Jerami Grant (6-foot-8), Bol Bol (7-foot-2), Paul Millsap (6-foot-7), and Mason Plumlee (6-foot-11).
So, yes, that tall Rockets starting lineup came up just short of an NBA all-time record—just as they did against the Thunder, who beat Houston 125-124 in a double-overtime classic.
