Gheorghe Dumitru "GhiÃÂÃÂ" MureÃÂan (; born 14 February 1971), also known as "the Giant" (), is a Romanian-American former professional basketball player. At , he is one of the two tallest players to have played in the NBA.
MureÃÂan was born in Tritenii de Jos, Cluj County, Romania. Although his parents' heights were relatively typical, he grew to his remarkable height due to a pituitary gland disorder called gigantism.
MureÃÂan played competitive basketball at Universitatea Cluj, becoming national champion in 1992.
MureÃÂan played professionally in the French league with Pau-Orthez during the 1992âÂÂ93 season and was an instant hit with fans, also managing to win the French League Cup.
MureÃÂan was selected by the NBA's Washington Bullets in the 1993 NBA draft. 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 1995âÂÂ1996 campaign, when he averaged 14.5 points per game.
MureÃÂan was named the NBA's Most Improved Player for the 1995âÂÂ96 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.
MureÃÂan joined the New Jersey Nets for the final 31 games of his NBA career.
After ending his NBA career, MureÃÂan 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, MureÃÂan played a game for the Maryland Nighthawks as part of the tallest lineup in the history of basketball. This was the only basketball game MureÃÂan played where he was not the tallest person on the court, as Sun Mingming is .
In 2004, MureÃÂan 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.
MureÃÂan is also part of the Washington Wizards marketing and public relations team, serving as an "ambassador" for the team.
MureÃÂan co-authored two young adult fitness and health books: The Boy's Fitness Guide and The Girl's Fitness Guide.
In 2013, MureÃÂan 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.
Outside basketball, MureÃÂan has dabbled in acting, playing the title character in 1998 feature film My Giant starring comedian Billy Crystal. MureÃÂan also acted in the films Adventures of Serial Buddies (2011) and Manodrome (2023).
He appeared as a ventriloquist in the music video for Eminem's breakthrough single "My Name Is". He has appeared in commercials for Snickers candy bars, and sports television network ESPN.
MureÃÂan and his wife Liliana and sons George (born 1998) and Victor (born 2000) have resided in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, but they relocated to the suburbs of Washington, D.C. Both his sons played college basketball as walk-ons at Georgetown University, where they were coached by Patrick Ewing.
|- | style="text-align:left;"| 1993âÂÂ94 | style="text-align:left;"| Washington | 54 || 2 || 12.0 ||.545 ||.000 ||.676 || 3.6 || 0.3 || 0.5 || 0.9 || 5.6 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 1994âÂÂ95 | style="text-align:left;"| Washington | 73 ||58 || 23.6 ||.560 ||.000 ||.709 || 6.7 || 0.5 || 0.7 || 1.7 || 10.0 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 1995âÂÂ96 | style="text-align:left;"| Washington | 76 || 76 || 29.5 ||style="background:#cfecec;"|.584* ||.000 ||.619 || 9.6 || 0.7 || 0.7 || 2.3 || 14.5 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 1996âÂÂ97 | style="text-align:left;"| Washington | 73 || 69 || 25.3 ||style="background:#cfecec;"|.604* ||.000 ||.618 || 6.6 || 0.4 || 0.6 || 1.3 || 10.6 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 1998âÂÂ99 | style="text-align:left;"| New Jersey | 1 || 0 || 1.0 ||.000 ||.000 ||.000 || 0.0 || 0.0 || 0.0 || 0.0|| 0.0 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 1999âÂÂ00 | style="text-align:left;"| New Jersey | 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
|- | style="text-align:left;"|1997 | style="text-align:left;"|Washington | 3 || 3 || 23.3 || .444 || – || .875 || 6.0 || .0 || .0 || 1.3 || 5.0