As a high school prospect, Zion Williamson was a tantalizing mix of power and athleticism, putting together one of the best dunk highlight reels in preps history while being a massive, physically dominant big man.
Williamson isn’t tall, he measured in at USA Basketball camp last year at 6’5 without shoes, and he’s always been beefy, weighing in at 272 pounds at that same camp. That combination of massive size, but lack of height, has led to plenty of questions about what position Williamson should play at the college and pro level.
That question will have to be answered by Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski as he integrates Williamson and the rest of his star-studded recruiting class into the Blue Devils roster that lost a pair of top 10 picks this summer. On Tuesday, Duke released their official measurements for the 2018-19 roster and Williamson has apparently grown some in more ways than one since last year’s USA Basketball camp, as he is listed at a stunning 6’7, 285 pounds.
Teams tend to be generous with height (and weight), but Jonathan Wasserman put that into perspective by pointing out that, if true, that 285 pound number would make Williamson the second heaviest player in the NBA (not college) for this upcoming season. The only player heavier being 7’3 center Boban Marjanovic.
Duke listing Zion Williamson at 6-7, 285 pounds. Would make him the 2nd heaviest player in the NBA, behind Boban, who's 7-3, 290, per https://t.co/2AVHWqlPKh. https://t.co/tzKcvs3p10
— Jonathan Wasserman (@NBADraftWass) July 31, 2018
It’s pretty amazing to take a look at the list of who Williamson is listed as being bulkier than. Al Jefferson, Jusuf Nurkic, Cristiano Felicio, Andre Drummond, Robin Lopez, and Timofey Mozgov are the only players listed between 275-280 pounds behind Marjanovic, and all six of them are at least 6’9.
What makes Williamson’s weight all the more incredible is that, even at that heavy, he’s one of the elite athletes and high flyers in the country. I mean, this is the guy that recently broke Duke’s vertical leap record and he’s doing so at a massive size. One would expect that while at Duke, with a concentrated nutrition and conditioning plan, he will trim down some and become an even better athlete, which is rather terrifying. Williamson is far from the first undersized big to make up for a lack of height with some extra bulk down low. Charles Barkley famously played in college at or near 300 pounds before he got to the league and was made to lose weight by Moses Malone in order to tap into his full potential.
Williamson is an exceptionally skilled player and as he continues to develop other areas of his game — he’s already putting in major work on his jumper — if he adds the necessary conditioning work to it he can very well reach the full potential of his immense skill set.
For now, though, we can all marvel at the size of the lad as he barrels down the basketball court and glides through the air like a guard despite carrying the weight of the heaviest NBA centers.
