Caitlin Clark is used to being one of the shorter players on the court.
But playing against Chinese skyscraper Zhang Ziyu was a totally new experience.
“This was a different type of basketball game than I probably ever played in my entire life,” Clark said Friday after the U.S. opened FIBA Women’s World Cup play with a 94-61 win against China. “I’ve never played against a woman of that size.”
At 7-foot-3, Zhang is hard to miss. The 19-year-old popped on the TV screen as she literally towered over every single player on the court.
Zhang stands a whopping 10 inches taller than the Americans’ tallest player, Aliyah Boston.
Zhang’s physical dimensions alone fundamentally altered how an opponent can defend her. It’s almost equivalent to a 10-year-old trying to match up against their dad at a park.
When Zhang establishes a deep position, she’s almost unguardable.
A video of 6-foot-4 Angel Reese battling in the paint for position with Zhang started making the rounds on social media before the game finished because of the obscene height difference.
There was also a photo of 6-foot Paige Bueckers looking up at Zhang during a stoppage.
Zhang, though, is still young and raw. Her height and length give her an obvious advantage, of course, but she’s still learning how to play within her frame.
Zhang tied for a team-high 13 points Friday. Nine of her points, though, came from the free throw line. She also grabbed six rebounds and had two blocks.
“She obviously presented some challenges for us, but you got to give our post players a lot of credit,” Clark said. “They really battled and Coach Kara (Lawson) really challenged them before the game to be physical, try to push them out of the paint. If she makes a couple, stay resilient, stay in it, I thought Aliyah came in and gave us great minutes guarding her.”
Zhang, who went viral for dominating at the 2024 U18 Women’s Asia Cup, is eligible for the 2027 WNBA Draft, which is still far enough away that projecting her eventual draft position is inherently speculative. A lot can change between now and then.
But her potential is alluring.
Zhang would be the tallest player to ever play in the WNBA, edging out 7-foot-2 Margo Dydek, who played in the league from 1998 to 2008. Her Chinese teammate, Han Xu, is the tallest player in the WNBA now at 6-foot-11.
If Zhang develops the skills, such as her touch, passing and defensive awareness, to consistently capitalize on her physical advantage, she could become one of the most fascinating draft prospects in recent memory.
“She’s a wonderful player and you see how young she is,” Lawson said. “You can tell she’s still growing and learning how to play and how to leverage her advantage, which is her size and there’s not much you can do to stop her when she gets it really close to the basket.”
Zhang’s size is impossible to ignore. And if the rest of her game catches up, it might just be impossible to pass her up in the first round of the draft.
“There’s a lot of upside with her, she’s still a very young player,” Lawson said, “but I think to be this young and to be in a World Cup and to go against the top players is only going to help her continue to grow. So I think if she continues to develop, there’s definitely a place for her.”
