When the world's tallest man, Sun Ming from China, officially joined the American Basketball Association, he was given an XXXXXXL sweat shirt to wear, and it still didn't fit him. ABA is touting 23-year-old Ming as the tallest player in the history of professional basketball, with a height of 7 foot 8 and 3/4 inches (236 cm).

Ming wears size 19 shoes and weighs at least 335 pounds. As a new entrant to Maryland Nighthawks, he wore a uniform with the number 79 - symbolic of his giant height.

He hails from a small town called Dayan, near Harbin, China, in the Heilongjiang province. He has played for the Junior Olympic team (U-18) and Daqing club, and came to the United States in early 2005 to train for a possible NBA career.

Though declared eligible in the 2005 NBA Draft, Ming was not selected due to the common complaint of his lack of speed and stamina.

AP quotes the aspiring player as saying, "I hope I make the NBA some day." Nighthawks owner and ABA chief operating officer Tom Doyle said, "I'm quite sure he will."

Ming's career had to take a back seat on 2006 while he underwent two operations for a pituitary tumor that led to his extraordinary size but threatened his life. He is now healthy and getting into shape.

He also appeared in a fight scene in Jackie Chan's upcoming "Rush Hour 3."