China’s 7-Foot-3 Women’s Basketball Phenom Is Destroying Opponents At Only 17 Years Old

Zhang Ziyu is the tallest female basketball player of all-time, at least unofficially. She is already 7-foot-3 at only 17 years old and simply cannot be stopped as China plays in the FIBA U18 Women’s Asia Cup this week.

Much, much smaller opponents do not have an answer for her size to that point that it’s almost unfair!

It is not entirely clear as to whether there has been another women’s basketball player as tall as Ziyu. However, the tallest player in WNBA history was Margo Dydek. She was 7-foot-2.

Ziyu is already one inch taller before turning 18. Her height is an anomaly that puts China in position to dominate other Asian countries for as long as she is on the floor— even though they normally do anyway.

This year’s U18 Asia Cup got underway on Monday night in Shenzhen. China rolled to a 109-50 win over Indonesia. Ziyu made her national team debut in the dominant victory and popped off.

The 17-year-old phenom actually moves pretty well for her size and went a perfect 9-for-9 from the field in 13 minutes off the bench. She scored 19 points with seven rebounds, two assists, two steals and three blocks.

Ziyu followed up her first in-game appearance with another dominant performance against New Zealand on Tuesday. (Admittedly I didn’t know that New Zealand would be part of the Asia Cup!)

She played 23 minutes in China’s 90-68 win and made 16 of 20 shot attempts to finish as the game’s leading scorer with 36 points. Her 13 rebounds was also a game high. As were her four blocks.