The shortest WNBA players in 2023 are 5 feet 4 inches tall guards Raina Perez and Rui Machida. Raina and Rui are players from the regular season roster.
On the other hand, the players from the current playoff roster include Leilani Mitchell and Crystal Dangerfield, with a height of 5 feet 5 inches.
Established on April 22, 1996, WNBA is an American professional basketball league separated from NBA as a league for women players. They have a total of 12 teams that are divided into Eastern and Western Conferences equally.
While the NBA and WNBA have the same rules and modules, a few things distinguish them from their male counterpart league.
WNBA has a slightly squat 3-point radius, and the balls used have a slightly smaller radius considering the hand size of women.
The shortest player in WNBA history was Shannon Bobbit from the Washington Mystics, with a height of 5 feet 2 inches. There has never been a player in the league that had the same height as the others were all taller by an inch.
While there are many players with smaller heights in WNBA compared to their male counterpart league, quite a few active players are smaller than the average range.
Here are seven of the shortest WNBA players that are active in the league right now, listed according to their height.
7. Jordin Canada
Jordin Canada is a 5 feet 6 inches tall point guard player from Los Angeles Sparks. Jordin is the shortest active WNBA player with two championship rings.
Known for her defensive and stealing abilities, she received the title of WNBA steals Leader in 2019 and was named to the WNBA All-Defensive Team in the same year.
Drafted by the Seattle Storm as the fifth pick in the first round of the 2018 WNBA draft, she obtained multiple awards and titles with the team during her four-year contract.
In 2022, Canada signed a contract with the Los Angeles Sparks, looking forward to making further achievements with the team.
Jordin is also the champion for the 2021 WNBA Commissioner Cup and a two-time Pac-12 Defensive player of the year from her college days at UCLA.
Born and raised in Los Angeles California, Jordin played basketball at Windward school in LA before coming to UCLA.
During the four years in high school, Canada obtained first-team All-League, League MVP, and first-team All-CIF honors each year under the guidance of coach Vanessa Nygaard.
She also received Los Angeles Times’ All-Area MVP award in 2013 and made it to the McDonald’s All-American Game in 2014.
6. Moriah Jefferson
Moriah Jefferson is 5 feet 6 inches tall point guard from the Phoenix Mercury. Moriah is the sixth WNBA player with the shortest height in 2023.
The San Antonio Stars drafted Jefferson as the second overall pick in the first round of the 2016 WNBA Draft. Likewise, she was named to the WNBA All-Rookie Team in her first year.
Jefferson has had a flawless record since high school. She played with the Under 18 and 19 USA teams while obtaining gold medals in both years.
Despite being the smaller player on the team, she had tied for the third position in total blocks during both international events.
Likewise, she played for UConn Women’s Basketball team in college, winning four consecutive NCAA championship rings from 2013 to 2016.
While she finished her career as first in total assists and second in steals, she also won the Nancy Liberman Award twice during her college years as the number one point guard in the nation.
5. Dana Evans
Dana Evans is a 5 feet 6 inches tall shooting guard from Chicago Sky known for her phenomenal defensive skills.
Drafted by the Dallas Wings in the 2021 WNBA draft, she was selected in the first round as the 13th overall pick, but she was traded to the Chicago Sky in June of the same year.
Playing for the Sky, Dana became a WNBA champion in her first year, boosting her reputation further. She was also chosen for the WNBA All-Rookie team of 2021.
Starting to play basketball in the fourth grade, she was naturally gifted and quickly became an exceptional player, shocking everyone around her. Later, she was even offered to play for a college team by coach Keith Freeman when she was still in the sixth grade.
Dana was the first girl from her hometown Gary, to make it to the McDonald’s All-American Game. Joining Louisville University, she continued giving her best with the Cardinals Women’s team.
As a top recruit of Louisville, Dana was committed to the Cardinals and was named to the ACC All-American Freshman team in her first year in 2018.
In the next year, she got the title of ACC's sixth player of the year in 2019 after obtaining an average of 10 points as a player from the bench.
Evans became the ACC player of the Year in 2020, making history as the first player to become number one from sixth directly. Following that, she became the conference player of the year in 2021, rising the ladder to become better each year.
4. Crystal Dangerfield
Crystal Dangerfield is a 5 feet 5 inches point guard in WNBA playing for Dallas Wings. Crystal has the same height as another basketballer Leilani Mitchell.
Dangerfield started playing basketball at a young age, showing talents that could compete with others of height. She became a famous basketball star after being the top-ranked point guard at Blackman high school in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
The WNBA player received the Morgan Wootten National Player of the Year award in 2016 and McDonald’s All-American in the same year. Later, she chose UConn for her Bachelors and players with the Huskies Women’s basketball team.
In her first year at UConn, she was selected to the AAC All-Freshman team for 2017 and later made it up to the First team All-AAC during the last two seasons in college. Crystal was selected for the All-AAC team each year throughout her college life.
Entering the WNBA Draft in 2020, the Minnesota Lynx selected her as a sixteenth-overall player in the second round. Later, she moved on to Indiana Fever, New York Liberty in 2022 before coming to the Wings in 2023.
While playing with the Lynx, she made it to the WNBA All-Rookie team in her first year and won the title for WNBA Rookie of the Year.
3. Leilani Mitchell
Leilani Mitchell is a 5 feet 5 inches point guard from the Washington Mystics in WNBA. Leilani is an Australian-American professional basketball player.
Besides Rui Machida and Raina Perez, who have not played many seasons in WNBA, Mitchell has been the shortest active player in WNBA for the past decade.
Primarily, Phoenix Mercury drafted Mitchell in the 2008 WNBA Draft. But she began her career with the New York Liberty after being traded before the Pre-Season game.
Mitchell is the first player to obtain the WNBA most improved player award twice in the league’s history. Besides that, she has received the WNBL Finals MVP player award twice and also obtained the WNBL Championship ring three times as of 2023.
Being a dual-citizen basketball player and an unrestricted free agent of the WNBA, Leilani can play freely with both nations without any limitations.
She has been actively playing for both WNBA and WNBL leagues after joining the Dandenong Rangers from Melbourne in 2013.
2. Rui Machida
Rui Machida is another 5 feet 4 inches tall basketball player ranked shortest in WNBA. Rui is a Point Guard from the Washington Mystics in WNBA.
Born on March 8, 1993, in Hokkaido, Japan, Machida is a Japanese professional basketball player that went undrafted in 2015.
Later, she caught the attention of many WNBA teams when she contributed a significant role in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, leading the Japanese team to win the silver.
Machida represented Japan at the 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics Women’s Basketball tournaments, winning the silver on her second attempt.
Likewise, she set an Olympic record for 18 assists in the semifinals against France in Summer Olympics 2020. Rui has also participated in three FIBA Women’s Asia Cups in 2015, 2017, and 2019.
In 2022, Washington Mystics signed Machida as the point guard for the team, considering her impressive passing abilities. Later, she was waived by the Mystics after the season ended.
Rui is considered an unrestricted WNBA free agent in 2023, while she continues to play for her home team Fujitsu Red Wave in the Women's Japan Basketball League since 2011.
1. Raina Perez
Raina Perez is the shortest player in the WNBA with a height of 5 feet 4 inches. Raina has been under a hardship contract with the Seattle Storm since May 11, 2022.
Perez is a free agent in WNBA after going undrafted in the 2022 WNBA draft. However, she got to sign the training camp contract with the Seattle Storm and eventually signed another contract on May 11, 2022.
WNBA point guard Raina has excelled in basketball since her days at Millenium High School in Arizona. Leading her team as the captain for three years, she became a three-time high school MVP before graduation.
Later, the athelete began her collegiate-level basketball journey with Northern Arizona Lumberjacks in her freshman year before moving to Cal State Fullerton for further studies. In 2019, Raina was named to the All-Big West Honorable Mention in her third year at Fullerton.
Similarly, for her last year before completing her Bachelor, she moved to North Carolina and played with the Wolfpacks Women's team. Later, she was named to the All-ACC Honorable Mention team in 2021. ESPN also ranked Perez as the 5th graduate transfer in the nation.
