Wednesday Surprise: Mac McClung’s Vertical Is About The Same As Zion Williamson’s

Depending on who you ask, Zion Williamson’s vertical is somewhere between 45” and 50” (his high school coach says it’s about 50) which is extraordinary, not least of all given that he weighs 285 (one wonders what he could do if he lost 20-25 pounds, not that he needs to necessarily).

That puts him at the level of truly elite leapers like Wilt Chamberlain and Darrell Griffith (48”), Michael Jordan (46”) and David Thompson (whatever he felt like).

And also Mac McClung.

Georgetown’s rising sophomore, a YouTube sensation like Williamson, recorded a 48” vertical.

To be clear, we’d take Williamson over McClung, because 6-7 and 285 trumps 6-2 anything, and we’d take Chamberlain over Williamson because 7-2+ a very long arm+48” off the ground means he was impossible to shoot over or to block.

Watching McClure get up around the top of the backboard though is just amazing.

Of course a big vertical is amazing but it doesn’t mean all that much. The record is actually around 60” and it’s a guy you probably never heard of: Kadour Ziani.

Not surprisingly he’s a professional slam dunker.