Zhang Ziyu has not played a single professional game yet, and the sport is already bending around her existence. At 18 years old and standing 7 foot 4, she represents something women’s basketball has never truly had to confront at scale: extreme vertical dominance with time to develop.
The context matters. The tallest active player in the WNBA today is Brittney Griner, and the average WNBA center stands around 6 foot 4. Zhang gives you nearly a full foot of height advantage the moment she steps on the floor. That is not a skill gap. That is geometry.
Defensively, the questions will come, and fairly so. She will not be asked to chase shooters like Caitlin Clark or Paige Bueckers around screens. That is not the assignment. Her presence alone changes the court. The paint shrinks. Angles disappear. Layups turn into hesitation. Teams have to rethink what a good shot even looks like.
Offensively, the discussion gets uncomfortable fast. She does not need a bag. She does not need separation. She does not need counters yet. At her size, keeping the ball high already forces double teams and rotations. Development will determine how dangerous she becomes, but the baseline advantage is already historic.
Zhang is preparing for her professional debut in China’s WCBA and will be draft eligible for the WNBA in 2027. That timeline matters. She has years to grow into her body, her reads, and her conditioning. The league has never seen a ceiling quite like this, and defenders have never had to solve a problem shaped quite like her.
This is not hype built on highlights. It is a structural reality the sport will eventually have to address. Zhang Ziyu is not just tall. She is a walking question mark for how women’s basketball defends space, rim protection, and fairness itself.
