Have you ever wondered how high a player can reachNBA? To find out you have to enter the world of Draft Combinewhere the league measures the explosiveness of its young talents with scientific precision. Starting from an average of about 75 centimeters in the American League, the record of vertical leap is 122 centimeterssigned by Keon Johnson. The history of jumps on the parquet is legendary Spud Webbthe shortest (1.68 m) winner of the dunk contest, and reaches Victor Wembanyama (2.24 m), which almost seems like it doesn’t need to jump.
How the Draft Combine measures vertical jump
In the NBA there is a fixed event every year: the Draft Combinea series of athletic tests to which young talents are subjected before being chosen by the franchises. Among the most awaited tests is the measurement of the vertical jump, carried out in two variants: the standing jump (standing vertical) and the run-up jump (max vertical). In both cases, the athlete jumps trying to touch the highest possible point on a special measuring structure.
Until 2023, the so-called Vertec was used, a mechanical tool with rotating blades that the athlete hits at the maximum height of his body. Since 2024 the NBA Combine has adopted the system Top Hoppermore precise and reproducible, which provides digital measurements and can be combined with force platforms to analyze the entire dynamics of the jump.
The difference between the two types of jump is not trivial: the max vertical is on average about ten centimeters higher than the one when standing still, because the run-up allows part of the horizontal speed to be transformed into elevation. Vertical jump depends on several factors, including explosive force of the legs, elasticity of the tendons, neuromuscular coordination And relationship between body weight and muscle mass. The best NBA jumpers are not necessarily the strongest in the gym, but those capable of developing maximum power in the shortest time possible.
The deadlift record of 122 centimetres
The average vertical jump in the NBA is around 75 centimetresbut it is by looking at the extreme cases that we realize the extraordinary athleticism of certain players.
The official record at the Draft Combine is held by Keon Johnsona guard from the University of Tennessee, who sat out 2021 122 centimetresbeating a record that had stood for twenty years. The NBA itself certified it as the greatest vertical jump ever recorded at the Combine. Translated into visual terms: with that jump, Johnson would have had his head well beyond the rim of the basket, which is 305 centimeters from the ground.
Before him, the record was Kenny Gregory in 2001 with 116 cmremained undefeated for two decades. In the Combine’s more recent history, other notable names include Pat Connaughton (112 cm in 2015) e Jericho Sims (113 cm in 2021), the latter a center of over two meters, which makes the performance even more surprising.
The story of Spud Webb: the shortest to win the NBA Dunk Contest
Few players have amazed NBA audiences as much as they have Anthony “Spud” Webb. Atlanta Hawks guard just tall one meter and sixty eight — one of the shortest players in NBA history — in 1986 won the Slam Dunk Contest beating his teammate Dominique Wilkinsreigning champion and considered one of the best athletes of the time.
Webb had a vertical leap estimated at 117 centimetresan extraordinary value for its stature. In the final, which YouTube ESPN shows again in a video, he obtained two perfect scores of 50, surprising fans, the press and even Wilkins, who declared he had never seen him dunk before that evening. Webb remains today the shortest player to win the dunk contest in the NBA.
Wembanyama: when jumping becomes almost useless
There is a case in recent NBA history where the vertical jump almost takes a backseat, not because it doesn’t count, but because the player’s other measurements are off the charts. Victor Wembanyamafirst overall pick of the San Antonio Spurs in the 2023 Draft, is two meters and twenty-four meters tall and has a wingspan of approximately 244 centimeters, one of the largest ever recorded in the league.
His standing reach — the height reached with the arm raised from a standstill — is almost three metres. This means that even with a vertical leap of around 81 centimetres, lower than the best Combine specialists, he still manages to reach exceptional heights. As seen in the video below, to compete for a rebound or block a shot he often just needs to stretch outwhile the opponents must literally fly. Only a few days ago, in the playoffs against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Wembanyama brought this physical superiority to an almost unreal level: in Game 1 of the Conference semi-finals he scored 12 blockshelping to set a new record for average blocks per game in playoffs.
