Draft Combine Measurements
Our first look at the real measurements of the top prospects in the draft
Also: Check out our analysis of the Combine athletic testing here!
The NBA released official measurements for the many of the top prospects in the 2021 NBA Draft on Tuesday.
Here are a few takeaways from that list:
Utah State’s Neemias Queta was the tallest player at 6’11.25” w/o shoes.
Queta also had the longest wingspan at 7’4” and the tallest standing reach at 9’4.5."
Oral Roberts’ Max Abmas was the shortest player at 5’10.5” w/o shoes.
Duke’s Jalen Johnson had both the widest and the longest hands.
Florida State’s RaiQuan Gray was the heaviest player at 268.6 pounds. He’s 6’6.5” w/o shoes. He had a 17.3% body fat percentage. That’s not great.
Tennessee’s Yves Ponds had just 4% body fat.
Players who measured taller than expected (w/o shoes):
Ziaire Williams (6’8.25” … nearly 6’10” in shoes)
Sharife Cooper (6”3.5”)
Analysis: There are rarely players who measure significantly taller than we expect. Williams measuring nearly 6’10” in shoes should bode well for him as a projected wing (though his wingspan is pretty pedestrian).
Cooper’s height looks like a typo. Scouts were expecting him to come in measured at around six feet or smaller. That’s just stunning if he’s really that tall, based on his listed height of 6’ 1” at Auburn.
Players who measured shorter than expected (all measurements w/o shoes):
Max Abmas (5’10.5”)
Davion Mitchell (6’0”)
Josh Christopher (6’3.25”)
Tre Mann (6’3.25”)
Keon Johnson (6’3.25”)
James Bouknight (6’3.5”)
Marcus Bagley (6’6”)
Roko Prkačin (6’7.5”)
Analysis: Height matters in the NBA and none of these measurements are great relative to the players’ positions.
Mitchell is the biggest disappointment here. He was listed at 6’2” at Baylor. It’s tough to draft a 6’0” point guard in the lottery, even though he makes up for some of that with a +4” wingspan.
Abmas is also significantly shorter than we expected. Measuring under six feet is likely going to hurt his chances of cracking the first round.
Johnson, Bouknight and Christopher all are pretty undersized for the 2-guard position, though all three have fairly decent wingspans.
Bagley is very undersized for an NBA 4. Prkačin was listed at 6’9” to 6’11” in some places. He too is pretty undersized as a 4.
Players with the longest wingspans relative to their height:
Moses Moody (+8.25”)
Scottie Lewis (+8”)
Miles McBride (+7.75”)
Scottie Barnes (+7.75”)
Nah’Shon Hyland (+7.25”)
Yves Pons (+7.25”)
David Johnson (+7.25”)
Isaiah Mobley (+7”)
Ayo Dosunmu (+6.75”)
Trendon Watford (+6.75”)
Jericho Sims (+6.25”)
Aaron Henry (+6.25”)
DJ Steward (+6.25”)
Herbert Jones (+6.25”)
Josh Christopher (+6”)
McKinley Wright IV (+6”)
Analysis: Wingspan means more to most teams than actual height. If your wingspan is six-plus inches longer than what you measure in socks, NBA teams classify it as elite length. There are a lot of prospects in this draft who qualify.
Moody’s wingspan is just crazy and will make up for his relative lack of explosive athleticism.
I think this will especially help Hyland and McBride, who measured shorter than expected -- their elite wing should offset that somewhat.
Scottie Barnes’ nearly 7-foot-3 wingspan is partly why so many teams are now projecting him as a top-5 pick. You don’t find many point guards with his size and length.
Players with the shortest wingspans relative to their height:
Tre Mann (+0.75”)
Matt Hurt (+1”)
Corey Kispert (+1”)
Austin Reeves (+1.75”)
Jared Butler (+1.75”)
Jeremiah Robinson-Earl (+2”)
Marcus Zegarowski (+2”)
Analysis: Tre Mann’s lack of length and height (he measured as less than his listed height at Florida) is going to hurt him a bit. He’s not a great athlete and elite size was a way to make up for it. Ditto for Jared Butler.
There aren’t any other big surprises here.
A number of top prospects didn’t participate:
Cade Cunningham, Jalen Green, Isaiah Jackson, Jonathan Kuminga, Matt Mayer (who recently pulled out of the draft), Evan Mobley, Day’Ron Sharpe, Jalen Suggs and Cameron Thomas.
Can we just take a minute to appreciate Keon Johnson's max vertical leap? 48 inches?! That's insane!
This Cooper news needs 40-45 exclamation marks after it, IMO. I thought the most shocking thing in the article was going to be the tallest player at the combine being < 7 foot w/o shoes. Then i got to Cooper. 3 inches. And in the POSITIVE??? I’m stunned. There’s a new lottery pick in the room, fellas.
Mitchell and Mann are disappointing for them both as prospects. Jalen Johnson just became Kawhi to every lazy observer late to the party. Hyland and Barnes are personal faves specifically due to expected positive measurements. Think those are the first thoughts outta my head, not that anyone asked. Hahaha
Oh also, i am starting to be of the belief that Zaire is going higher than being reported. I don’t know squat, I’m just a goon on the internet but all the news and articles about him lately seem to be trending positively about him. I don’t know if that just means he hired Clutch to represent him or if folks are realizing they may have too harshly judged an injured teen learning how to heal and develop during a pandemic.