Who are the tallest, shortest, youngest and oldest players in the OQTs?

    10 min to read
    Long Read

    Young and old, tall and small, you'll see them all among the 288 players in the OQTs in Riga, Valencia, San Juan and Piraeus.

    MIES (Switzerland) - It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog. That is especially true in basketball.

    Another good one for the sport is, "If he's good enough, he's old enough."

    At the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments in Piraeus, Riga, San Juan and Valencia, those two aphorisms will come into play.

    After looking over each roster with a fine-tooth comb, we've found the tallest, shortest, youngest and oldest players at the OQTs.

    Youngest players at the OQTs

    Porras is the youngest in OQT field

    November 24, 2008 - the date of birth of the youngest player on any roster in the OQT field, Mexico's Adrien Isaac Porras.

    A 2.10m (6'11") power forward, Porras is just 16 years old, and he's not the only Mexico national team player at the OQT that's still a young teen. Karim Lopez, a 2.01m (6'7") forward of Spanish side Joventut, turned 17 on Apr 12, 2007.

    Finland also have a 17-year-old in Mikko Muurinen, whose father Kimmo Muurinen played for Finland and his mother, Jenni Laaksonen, did as well.

    The youngsters on these rosters are good, including Juan Nunez, the 1.91m (6'3") point guard of Spain who won the U16 EuroBasket in 2019 and U20 EuroBasket in 2022 before being named MVP of the competition. He was also just selected in the second round of the NBA Draft. Nunez only turned 20 on June 4.

    RANK

    NAME

    TEAM

    BIRTHDATE

    1.

    Adrien Isaac Porras

    MEX

    November 24, 2008

    2.

    Karim Lopez

    MEX

    April 12, 2007

    3.

    Mikka Muurinen

    FIN

    March 4, 2007

    4.

    Aginaldo Neto

    ANG

    April 29, 2006

    5.

    Donavan Freeman

    BAH

    August 14, 2005

    6.

    VJ Edgecombe

    BAH

    July 30, 2005

    7.

    Karim Elgizawy

    EGY

    January 13, 2005

    8.

    Mason Francis Amos

    ANG

    August 21, 2004

    9.

    Giorgi Ochkhikidze

    GEO

    June 5, 2004

    10.

    Juan Nunez

    ESP

    June 4, 2004

    Oldest players at the OQTs

    Rudy is trying to reach sixth Olympics

    With age comes wisdom and these veterans have it all.

    Two-time Olympian Marcelinho Huertas, Brazil's living legend of a point guard coming off a Basketball Champions League MVP season with Lenovo Tenerife, retains the honor of oldest player in the field. The third most senior player is Spain's Rudy Fernandez, one of the most decorated players in international hoops history, a five-time Olympian and two-time FIBA Basketball World Cup winner.

    Others that have made their marks in national team basketball are Mexico''s point guard Paul Stoll, Dominican Republic's Victor Liz, the Philippines' Japeth Aguilar and Côte d'Ivoire's Solo Diabate.

    RANK

    NAME

    COUNTRY

    BIRTHDAY

    1.

    Marcelinho Huertas

    BRA

    May 25, 1983

    2.

    Adris De Leon

    DOM

    July 10, 1984

    3.

    Rudy Fernandez

    ESP

    April 4, 1985

    4.

    Jaraun Burrows

    BAH

    September 4, 1985

    5.

    Paul Stoll

    MEX

    December 14, 1985

    6.

    Victor Liz

    DOM

    May 12, 1986

    7.

    Antonio Pena

    DOM

    July 20, 1986

    8.

    Japeth Aguilar

    PHI

    January 25, 1987

    9.

    Wayne Chism

    BRN

    June 16, 1987

    10.

    Solo Diabate

    CIV

    July 21, 1987

    Tallest players at the OQTs

    Philippines are Kai high on Sotto

    There are plenty of skyscrapers at the OQTs with some teams having more than one.

    The tallest are Omar Oraby of Egypt and Kai Sotto of the Philippines, a 22-year-old who is already very good and is still just scratching the surface of his potential. Danko Brankovic and Ivica Zubac are towering pivots of Croatia. In addition to Oraby, Egypt have Anas Mahmoud, whose athleticism makes him play even taller. One HUGE reason why the Bahamas have a chance to win the OQT in Valencia is their double-double machine DeAndre Ayton, one of four players on the list at 2.13m (7'0").

    RANK

    NAME

    COUNTRY

    HEIGHT

    1

    Omar Oraby

    EGY

    2.18m (7' 2")

     

    Kai Sotto

    PHI

    2.18m (7' 2")

    3

    Georgios Papagiannis

    GRE

    2.17m (7' 1")

     

    Danko Brankovic

    CRO

    2.17m (7' 1")

    5.

    Ivica Zubac

    CRO

    2.16m (7' 1")

    6.

    Aleksandar Balcerowski

    POL

    2.15m (7' 1")

    7.

    Anas Mahmoud

    EGY

    2.14m (7' 0")

     

    Patrick Tape

    CIV

    2.14m (7' 0")

     

    Tyrell Harrison

    NZL

    2.14m (7' 0")

    10.

    Donatas Motiejunas

    LTU

    2.13m (7' 0")

     

    DeAndre Ayton

    BAH

    2.13m (7' 0")

     

    Gogo Bitadze

    GEO

    2.13m (7' 0")

     

    Marko Simonovic

    MNE

    2.13m (7' 0")

    Shortest players at the OQTs

    Angola's constant spark Childe Dundao

    Some of the most dynamic players in the OQTs will be the floor generals.

    The shortest of them all, Childe Dundao, led Angola in scoring at the World Cup and is a constant spark on defense.

    Meanwhile Yago Santos has improved so much that he's capable of putting Brazil on his back and carrying them to wins, like he did by hitting six 3-pointers against Cote d'Ivoire at the World Cup and dishing out 10 assists in an upset of Canada.

    It's hard to imagine Mexico having climbed in the FIBA World Ranking to No. 25 without Paul Stoll pulling the strings with his passing and long-range shooting.

    Puerto Rico's Tremont Waters led the Boricuas with an eye-popping 20.3 points and 9.2 assists per game at the World Cup and was even third in rebounds at 4.0 per contest.

    RANK

    NAME

    COUNTRY

    HEIGHT

    1.

    Childe Dundao

    ANG

    1.67m (5' 6")

    2.

    Ahmed Haji

    BRN

    1.75m (5' 9")

    3.

    Ahmed Metwaly

    EGY

    1.77m (5' 10")

    4.

    Lourawls Nairn

    BAH

    1.78m (5' 10")

     

    Yago Santos

    BRA

    1.78m (5' 10")

    5.

    Adris De Leon

    DOM

    1.80m (5'11")

     

    Paul Stoll

    DOM

    1.80m (5'11")

     

    Ali Melad

    BRN

    1.80m (5'11")

     

    Jordan Howard

    PUR

    1.80m (5'11")

     

    Goran Filipovic

    CRO

    1.80m (5'11")

     

    Tremont Waters

    PUR

    1.80m (5'11")

     

    Severi Kaukiainen

    FIN

    1.80m (5'11")

     

    Ivan Montano

    MEX

    1.80m (5'11")

    Read more about the OQT players here:

    The Top 10 - Who are the best of the best of the OQTs

    These Young Guns will make a difference at the OQTs

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