Sun Ming Ming
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Categories: 1983 births | Centers (basketball) | Chinese basketball players | Living people | People with acromegaly
Sun Ming Ming (traditional Chinese: 孫明明; simplified Chinese: 孙明明; pinyin: Sūn Míngmíng, born August 23, 1983) is a Chinese basketball player. He is one of the tallest players to ever play professional basketball.[1]
Basketball CareerEarly lifeHe was born in a small town called Bayan near Harbin, China, in the Heilongjiang province, and is 7 ft 9 in (236 cm), 370 pounds (168 kg).[2] Sun did not start playing basketball until he was 15, when he was 6 ft 7 in.[3]. Career in the United StatesSun came to the United States in early 2005 to train for a possible career in the NBA. Sun was declared eligible in the 2005 NBA Draft, and had a brief tryout with the Lakers,[4] but was not selected in the draft. In the summer of 2005, Sun discovered that he had a benign brain tumor attached to his pituitary gland that was stimulating the over-production of growth hormone, a potentially fatal condition known as acromegaly,[5]. Because he had neither health insurance nor enough money to pay for the more than $100,000 in medical bills, his agent Charles Bonsignore, started a fund raiser to raise the necessary funds.[6] The tumor was succesfully removed on September 26, 2005.[7] After surgery, Sun played with several minor league basketball teams, including the USBL team Dodge City Legend [2] the Maryland Nighthawks of the American Basketball Association.[8], and the Grand Rapids (Michigan) Flight of the International Basketball League. On June 20, 2007, Sun signed with Mexican Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional professional team Fuerza Regia from Monterrey.[9] In the mediaSun has made several television appearances, including on the Jimmy Kimmel Live show on ABC on October 11, 2006.[10] He was also the subject of a documentary television show, Anatomy of a Giant, which was originally broadcast on the Discovery Health Channel on October 15, 2006.[11] He also appeared in a fight scene with actors Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan in the film Rush Hour 3.[12] On March 11, Sun was a part of the tallest lineup in the world, a Guinness World Record, with four players over 7-foot, including former NBA player Gheorghe Mureşan.[13] References
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