World’s Tallest Teenager Hopes To Add NBA Stint To List Of Achievements

KEY POINTS

Olivier Rioux sets his sights on playing in the NBA
The 16-year-old is now in the United States, training under IMG Academy
An IMG director feels Rioux has a ton of potential

Height is might in the sport of basketball, and most NBA teams would not pass the chance to add a tall player in their lineup even if they would start out as project players.

There is a Canadian teenager named Olivier Rioux, who currently holds the Guinness World Record for being the world’s tallest teenager at 7-foot-5.

The 16-year-old is only a sophomore in high school, meaning he has several more years to hone his craft.

He moved to the United States in the summer and is currently enrolled at IMG Academy for the remainder of his high school career.

With some help, Rioux appears to be in good hands with IMG Academy, a place that has produced some notable names who have reached the NBA level.

For those who may not know, IMG is a preparatory boarding school and sports training destination in Bradenton, Florida.

The academy produced a couple of high-profile recruits in recent years. That list includes Trevon Duval, Dwayne Bacon, Jonathan Isaac and Anfernee Simons.

Given that track record, IMG Academy could help Rioux reach the NBA level. So far, he has shown his skill on the defensive side of things, swatting shots of opposing players who dare make an attempt against him.

The same holds on offense. Being that tall, it would be hard for any defender to blocks Rioux’s shot.

But if there is something that Rioux may want to consider is that he should not rush himself into the big leagues.

Daniel Barto, an associate director for IMG since 2003, mentioned in an interview how some of their graduates kind of rushed things a bit.

“These [tall] guys, they are really going to play their best basketball at 25 to 30 years old. People that are super big, they don’t really come into their own until they are further down the line,” Barto explained when he appeared on the Sports For All PH podcast hosted by Filipino journalists Vincent Juico with Brian Yalung.

There are exceptions to that, of course. But as far as Rioux is concerned, he is still young and it may be in his best interest to focus on his evolution before realizing his NBA dream.