The NBA Draft Combine is where rising NBA players showcase their physicality, athleticism, and mental to improve their draft stock. However, not performing to standards could ruin a player's reputation/stock.
In the 2007 NBA Draft Combine, Kevin Durant couldn't bench-press 185 pounds, which didn't affect his stock since he was still picked second in the draft. For players that are guaranteed to be selected high in the draft, the NBA Draft Combine isn't even necessary. For example, Markelle Fultz, Lonzo Ball, and Josh Jackson skipped the Combine but still were the Top 5 picks.
On the other hand, for a player that's predicted to be lower in the draft, performing well could change one's entire career. For example, the 15th pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, Cory Kispert, will make $5,000,000 more than the 30th pick, Santi Aldama, by the 2024-25 NBA season. Second-round picks aren't even guaranteed a contract!
Now, let's get into the exercises. The physical exercises test four different fitness components. Strength, power, speed, and agility. Here are the exercises for each component:
Strength: Bench Press
Power: Vertical Jump
Speed: 3/4 Court Sprint
Agility: Lane Agility Drill and Reactive Shuttle Run
Out of the five exercises, the one we'll be focusing on is the vertical jump. There's the standing vertical jump and running max vertical jump, and we will only be including the player's RUNNING MAX VERTICAL JUMP. Although it's just one of five exercises, one's vertical jump helps scouts/coaches predict a player's ability to grab rebounds, block shots, and finish at the rim!
Without further delay, here are the players with the highest vertical jumps in the NBA Draft Combine! Also, since some players have similar max vertical jumps, we'll be including every player that records the respective max vertical jump.
Table of Contents:
43 Inch Vertical Jump: Four Players
Since there is more than one player here, I'll also include links to each player so you can skip to the player you're interested in. Here are the players with a 43-inch vertical jump:
Matt Santangelo: 2000
Keifer Skyes: 2015
Marcus Thornton: 2015
Justin Anderson: 2015
Matt Santangelo: 2000 NBA Draft Combine
Matt Santangelo is starting off our list of players with the fifth-highest vertical jump in the NBA Draft Combine. Santangelo was a 6'1" Point Guard entering the 2000 NBA Draft. Unfortunately, Santangelo would go undrafted even with the highest vertical jump in that year's draft combine.
Santangelo played for two teams in Italy (Poliform Cantu and Benetton Treviso) and Spain (Caja San Fernando). It seems like Santangelo's vertical helped his rebounding because at 6'1," in his first season overseas, he was grabbing 3.0 rebounds per game! However, afterwards, his rebounding numbers decreased along with most of his stats:
2000-01: 12.3 Points, 3.0 Rebounds, 1.6 Assists, 2.3 Steals, and 0.2 Blocks
2004-05: 6.9 Points, 1.9 Rebounds, 3.1 Assists, 0.5 Steals, and 0 Blocks
Since Santangelo played overseas and almost two decades ago, there isn't a stat to indicate his percentage when shooting near the rim. Instead, we'll use 2P%, but that might not accurately predict Santangelo's ability to finish at the basket. For all we know, maybe he was a good mid-range shooter. Santangelo's career 2P% was 46.3% which is pretty good!
As for his professional basketball career in college, he averaged the exact numbers, and the only difference is that he was somewhat of a better shot-blocker. In the 1998-99 season, Santangelo's junior year, he averaged 0.4 blocks per game.
In total, Santangelo ended up with 14 blocks that season, the 13th most in the West Coast Conference. That might not seem impressive, but Santangelo was the only guard with more than 14 blocks in the conference. His 6'11" teammate, Axel Dench, ended with the same total number of blocks!
Keifer Sykes: 2015 NBA Draft Combine
The following three players recorded the fifth-highest vertical jump in the NBA Draft Combine. Sykes is a 6'0" Point Guard and, like Santangelo, went undrafted. Instead of immediately going overseas like Santangelo, Sykes ended up with the Spurs' G-League affiliate, the Austin Spurs, in the 2015-16 season.
Sykes was probably the Spurs' fifth-sixth best player. He was decent, but not that impressive. In the 2015-2016 G-League Season, he averaged 12/4/3/ while shooting 44.6% from the field and playing 31 minutes per game. 82.9% of his shots were within the arc. Based on his Summer League play in 2021, he's much more of a slasher than a mid-range shooter, which isn't surprising due to his vertical jump.
In the 2015-2016 G-League Playoffs, Sykes' play improved tremendously. He averaged 18/3/3 and shot 52.9% from the field while playing 36 minutes per game. Unfortunately, the Spurs would lose to the Los Angeles D-Fenders, 1-2 in the Semifinals.
In the 2019-2020 season, Sykes played in the Chinese Basketball Association for the Loong-Lions. As a 6'0" Point Guard, he averaged 5.3 rebounds per game! Yongpeng Zheng, their starting Center (I think), averaged fewer rebounds (4.7) than Sykes. Zheng is 7'0!" To be fair, Sykes played nine more minutes than Zheng per game.
Also, Sykes was the Loong-Lions' best player. Sykes averaged:
28.2 Points, 5.3 Rebounds, 6.1 Assists, 1.5 Steals, and 0.1 Blocks
48.0 FG%, 33.0 3P%, 90.6 FT%
36 Minutes
Keifer Sykes definitely used his vertical jump to his advantage. There are various YouTube videos of him dunking at 5'11," and he participated in the G-League's Slam Dunk Contest in 2016. However, he lost to Johnathan Jordan.
Recently, Sykes signed a contract with the Indiana Pacers, so hopefully, that goes well for him!
Marcus Thornton: 2015 NBA Draft Combine
Marcus Thornton is the second 2015 NBA Draft Combine prospect with a 43-inch max vertical jump.
Thornton is a 6'4" Shooting Guard that got drafted by an NBA team, unlike the previous two. In the 2015 NBA Draft, Thornton was selected by the Boston Celtics as the 45th pick. There is another Marcus Thornton that is also a 6'4" Shooting Guard, but he was selected in the 2009 NBA Draft.
Unfortunately, Thornton never played with the Boston Celtics in the NBA. He did play in the Summer League but only averaged 5.1 points and 1.1 rebounds while shooting horribly from the field (38.5%) and three-point line (20.0%).
In the 2017-18 NBA season, the Cleveland Cavaliers signed Thornton to a 10-day contract but was assigned to the G-League. The Cavaliers wouldn't sign Thornton to a second 10-day contract, so Thornton played the rest of the 2017-18 season for the Cavaliers' G-League affiliate, the Canton Charge.
Thornton played well with the Canton Charge, unlike his stint with the Boston Celtics during the 2015 Summer League. He averaged:
18.8 Points, 2.9 Rebounds, 3.4 Assists, 0.7 Steals, and 0.1 Blocks
41.6 FG%, 38.8 3P%, 77.4 FT%
36 Minutes
Out of everybody thus far, Thornton is the only player not to have averaged more than three rebounds per game. The most rebounds Thornton's averaged per season is 2.9 when he played with the Canton Charge. Although he hasn't averaged three rebounds per game, similar to Sykes, Thornton uses his vertical jump to help him get to the basket smoothly.
Justin Anderson: 2015 NBA Draft Combine
Finally, the last player with the fifth highest vertical jump in the 2015 NBA Draft Combine was 6'6" Small Forward Justin Anderson. Unlike everyone that has been mentioned thus far, Anderson played in the NBA. The most recent team he's been on was the Brooklyn Nets in the 2019-2020 season. The Dallas Mavericks originally drafted him in the 2015 NBA Draft as the 21st pick.
Anderson has played 226 NBA games and, besides the Mavericks and Nets, was on the Philadelphia 76ers from 2016-18 and the Atlanta Hawks from 2018-19. His best season was in 2016-2017 with the 76ers. He averaged:
8.5 Points, 4.0 Rebounds, 1.4 Assists, 0.5 Steals, and 0.3 Blocks
46.3 FG%, 29.2 3P%, 78.0 FT%
22 Minutes
Even though Anderson is taller than Sykes by six inches, Anderson still got outrebounded by 1.3 rebounds. To be fair, the 'difficulty' level between the CBA and NBA is pretty significant. So far, Anderson has the highest blocks per game with 0.3, which isn't THAT much. His most blocks in a season were 25 with the Dallas Mavericks.
When looking at Anderson's shooting charts, most of his shots come from the three-point line (48.1%), even though his three-point percentage is abysmal (29.6%). He takes the second-most shots from 0-3 feet and is also most accurate from that range (69.6%). His accuracy at that range while being 6'6" might have to do with his vertical jump!
In addition, 9.6% of Anderson's points are from dunks! That's more than his field goal attempts from 10-16 feet (5.4%) and 16 feet to the three-point line (5.3%).
In the 2019-20 season, besides being on the Brooklyn Nets, Anderson also played for the Toronto Raptors G-League affiliate, the Raptors 905. He averaged:
20.7 Points, 6.8 Rebounds, 1.6 Assists, 1.2 Steals, and 0.7 Blocks
47.6 FG%, 33.9 3P%, 75.0 FT%
34 Minutes
Out of the seasons he's played in the NBA and G-League, this was by far Anderson's best season. He even got selected to the All-G League Third Team. However, I don't know if anybody's told Anderson this, but he needs to STOP shooting threes. He always hits a ton of threes, even though he's inaccurate.
43.5 Inch Vertical Jump: Five Players
Here are the players with a 43.5-inch vertical jump:
Nate Robinson: 2004
Markel Brown: 2014
Tyler Bey: 2020
Tim Bowers: 2004
Demetrius Jackson: 2016
Nate Robinson: 2004 NBA Draft Combine
To start, the player with the fourth-highest vertical jump in the NBA Draft Combine is Nate Robinson. Does Robinson even need an introduction? Only standing at 5'9," Robinson was drafted by the Phoenix Suns in the 2005 NBA Draft as the 21st pick. However, he ended up being traded to the New York Knicks. For the next eleven seasons, Robinson would play with eight teams!
Robinson is tied for the 13th shortest player in NBA history! Even though he was severely undersized, that didn't stop him from being one of the best slashers and dunkers in the NBA. Obviously, it's a bit hard to dunk in-game when you're 5'9," but thankfully, the Dunk Contest allowed Robinson to show off that 43.5 vertical jump.
Dunking at 5'9" is already hard enough, but in the 2009 Dunk Contest, Robinson dunked over Dwight Howard, who's 6'10!" Since the Dunk Contest started in 1984, the only player that has won three Dunk Contests is Nate Robinson (2006, 2009-10)! It also wasn't like Robinson didn't have any tough opponents. Here were some of the players Robinson had to beat to win the contests:
2006: Josh Smith and Andre Iguodala
2009: Dwight Howard and J.R. Smith
2010: DeMar Derozan and Gerald Wallace
Besides his dunking, although Robinson has only recorded 42 blocks within 618 games when Robinson does block another player, it's always legendary. In a playoff game between the Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat, Robsinson blocked LeBron James (6'9") from behind.
In an even more impressive feat, in a game between the Rockets and Knicks, Robinson blocked Yao Ming (7'6"), who was at that time, the tallest player in the NBA.
Like Justin Anderson, Robinson shot most of his shots from the three-point line (38.8%) but was most accurate when shooting from 0-3 feet (56.8%).
Finally, in the 2008-09 season, Robinson averaged 3.9 rebounds per game! Robinson only averaged 0.2 fewer rebounds than Jared Jeffries, who was 6'11!"
Markel Brown: 2014 NBA Draft Combine
Markel Brown is a 6'3" Shooting Guard drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 2014 NBA Draft as the 22nd pick. Like Robinson, Brown got traded to the Brooklyn Nets on draft night, and Brown's NBA career was short-lived. He played for the Nets from 2014-16 and returned to the NBA in the 2017-18 season to play four games for the Houston Rockets.
Brown's NBA Draft Combine max vertical jump was 43.5 inches, but it might have been even higher. Brown was working with the Nets' strength and conditioning coach, Trevor St. Agathe, and was working on the Box Jump as a way to help "low body explosiveness." When Brown did the Box Jump, St. Agathe measured it and found out that Brown had just jumped 54 INCHES. That's 4.5 feet!
Markel Brown's best season in the NBA was in the 2015-2016 season. He averaged:
5.9 Points, 2.0 Rebounds, 1.5 Assists, 0.6 Steals, and 0.2 Blocks
39.4 FG%, 31.4 3P%, 75.5 FT%
16 Minutes
If you couldn't already tell, Brown wasn't the most efficient player. He shot less than 35% from every distance range besides the 0-3 feet range. When he shot the ball from 0-3 feet away, he made 55.6% of his shots.
In Brown's last regular-season game with the Brooklyn Nets, he had his best performance. He averaged:
18 Points, 11 Rebounds, 4 Assists, 6 Steals, and 3 Blocks
7/14 FG, 3/5 3P, 1/2 FT
34 Minutes
Tyler Bey: 2020 NBA Draft Combine
Tyler Bey is a 6'7" Small Forward drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers as the 36th pick in the 2020 NBA Draft. However, he got traded to the Dallas Mavericks in the Josh Richardson/Seth Curry deal. Bey only got to play 18 games with the Mavericks and averaged 3.9 minutes per game. He basically didn't get to play.
For most of the 2020-21 NBA season, Bey played with the Utah Jazz's G-League affiliate, the Salt Lake City Stars. Bey played 12 games with the Stars and averaged:
16.2 Points, 9.7 Rebounds, 0.8 Assists, 0.8 Steals, and 0.6 Blocks
49.7 FG%, 32.5 3P%, 77.1 FT%
29 Minutes
Bey has recorded the most rebounds and blocks per game out of every player so far. In college, his rebounds and blocks were even higher:
2018-19: 9.9 Rebounds and 1.2 Blocks
2019-20: 9.0 Rebounds and 1.2 Blocks
Bey has not yet officially averaged ten rebounds per game during a season, but his 2018-19 collegiate season basically counts as ten. In college, he became the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year, Most Improved Player of the Year, and was a part of the Second and First Team!
In 37/99 of Bey's college games, he's had more than ten rebounds! On November 24th, 2019, against the University of Wyoming, Bey recorded 19 REBOUNDS within 27 minutes of play! Every 85 seconds, Bey grabbed a rebound!
Timmy Bowers: 2004 NBA Draft Combine
Tim Bowers is a 6'2" Point Guard that went undrafted in the 2004 NBA Draft. Most of Bowers' professional basketball career was overseas. He played with the Asheville Attitude, a G-League team, in the 2004-05 season and won a Championship with them while averaging ten points, four rebounds, and four assists per game.
Afterwards, Bowers played with the Phoenix Suns in the Summer League but didn't impress. He averaged four points, one rebound, and one assist while shooting 33.3% from the field. After his stint with the Suns, the rest of Bowers' career was spent overseas.
Bowers' best season overseas was in 2005-06. He averaged:
21.4 Points, 5.3 Rebounds, 3.6 Assists, 1.7 Steals, and 0.4 Blocks
50.8 FG%, 38.4 3P%, 81.4 FT%
21 Minutes
Bowers performed so well that he won the Israeli Basketball Premier League MVP! In the same season, with the Hapoel Jerusalem Club, he won the Super League Cup Championship! He also won the Championship the following season (2006-07)!
Demetrius Jackson: 2016 NBA Draft Combine
Finally, the last player with the forth highest vertical jump in the NBA Draft Combine is Demetrius Jackson. Jackson is a 6'1" Point Guard that the Boston Celtics drafted in the 2016 NBA Draft as the 45th pick. Unlike most people on this list, Jackson got to play for the team he was drafted by... that is, if you count five games as playing for a team.
Instead, Jackson ended up playing for the Boston Celtics G-League affiliate, the Maine Redclaws. With the Redclaws, Jackson averaged:
14.8 Points, 5.1 Rebounds, 6.0 Assists, 1.3 Steals, and 0.4 Blocks
42.0 FG%, 27.5 3P%, 79.4 FT%
34 Minutes
Although it doesn't sound like much, five rebounds and 0.4 blocks per game by a 6'1" Point Guard is pretty impressive. This was the highest RPG that Jackson has averaged in a season. 0.4 blocks is also a lot considering that barely anyone so far has even touched a block per game.
Jackson would end up signing with the Houston Rockets in the 2017-18 season, but like with the Celtics, he got sent to the G-League. The Rockets would waive Jackson midway through the season. As a result, Jackson signed with the Philadelphia 76ers, and ONCE AGAIN, he got sent to the G-League. Technically, Jackson has been in the NBA for three seasons but has only played 26 games.
44 Inch Vertical Jump: Four Players
Here are the players with a 44-inch vertical jump:
Cassius Stanley: 2020
Shane Larkin: 2013
Kay Felder: 2016
Pat Connaughton: 2015
Cassius Stanley: 2020 NBA Draft Combine
The most recent player to record third highest vertical jump in the NBA Draft Combine is Cassius Stanely. Stanley is a 6'5" Shooting Guard drafted by the Indiana Pacers in the 2020 NBA Draft as the 54th pick. Obviously, if you're near the end of the draft, you're probably expected to be sent down to the G-League, which Stanely was.
With the Indiana Pacers G-League affiliate, the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, Stanley averaged:
12.7 Points, 3.3 Rebounds, 1.7 Assists, 0.8 Steals, and 0.3 Blocks
41.3 FG%, 26.7 3P%, 53.3 FT%
28 Minutes
If these were his stats in the NBA, this would be pretty good, but since it's the G-League, this stat-line is pretty disappointing. Thankfully, Stanley is still only 22 years old, so he still has a lot of room for improvement.
Stanley did end up playing with the Indiana Pacers for 24 games. He only averaged 3.9 minutes, so he didn't get to do much. Out of those 24 games, the most minutes he's ever received was on May 1st, 2021, against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Stanley played 13 minutes and put up seven points and three rebounds.
However, what's more notable about this game is that the Pacers beat the Thunder by 57 POINTS! 12/13 of Stanley's playing time this game was in the fourth quarter when the Pacers were already up by 56 points!
Even though Stanley's NBA career has been pretty short, like Nate Robinson, Stanley has also been a part of the Dunk Contest. However, Stanley didn't win. His first dunk was really good, but he only scored a 44, and he didn't make his second dunk in time and had to opt-in for a regular dunk.
Shane Larkin: 2013 NBA Draft Combine
Shane Larkin is a 6'0" Point Guard drafted by the Atlanta Hawks in the 2013 NBA Draft as the 18th pick. He ended up getting traded to the Dallas Mavericks and played for the New York Knicks, Brooklyn Nets, and Boston Celtics for the following three seasons before going overseas.
Unlike most players, Larkin didn't get sent down to the G-League for an extended period. He did play four games with the Texas Legends in his first season, but besides that, he was mostly playing in the NBA. Larkin's best season in the NBA was in the 2015-16 season with the Brooklyn Nets. He averaged:
7.3 Points, 2.3 Rebounds, 4.4 Assists, 1.2 Steals, and 0.2 Blocks
44.2 FG%, 36.1 3P%, 77.6 FT%
22 Minutes
Unlike most players so far, Larkin was a pretty diverse shooter. In the first and second season, he shot from everywhere equally. In the third season, he took more shots from 0-3 feet away (31.9%), and in his fourth season, he took more shots from the three-point line (39.3%). Larkin was always most efficient from 0-3 feet away (59.1%).
Larkin's overseas career is much more interesting than his NBA career. In the 2019-20 EuroLeague season, he averaged:
22.2 Points, 3.1 Rebounds, 4.1 Assists, 1.3 Steals
53.0 FG%, 50.9 3P%, 90.3 FT%
30 MInutes
He averaged more than 20 points while shooting 50/40/90! In the 2020-21 NBA season, no one shot 50.9% from the three-point line while taking 6.9 threes per game! Since going overseas, he's won 11 awards; some of the most notable being:
EuroLeague Champion (2021)
2x Turkish League Champion (2019, 2021)
Turkish League Finals MVP (2019)
All-Europe Player of the Year (2019)
Kay Felder: 2016 NBA Draft Combine
Kay Felder, like Nate Robinson, is a 5'9" Point Guard that got drafted in the 2016 NBA Draft by the Atlanta Hawks as the 54th pick and ended up getting traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers. In the 2017-18 NBA season, Felder played for the Chicago Bulls and Detroit Pistons before going overseas and playing in the CBA for the Xinjiang Flying Tigers.
Felder looked like Michael Jordan in his first season with the Cleveland Cavalier's G-League affiliate, the Canton Charge. In 11 games, he averaged:
29.9 Points, 3.4 Rebounds, 6.0 Assists, 1.5 Steals, and 0.4 Blocks
46.7 FG%, 36.4 3P%, 82.6 FT%
23 Minutes
If Felder had played more games, he would have qualified for MVP and most likely won it too! However, after this season, the rest of his G-League performances were pretty mediocre. He played for the Grand Rapids, Windy City Bulls, and Raptors 905 and averaged approximately 17/4/6.
Felder's performance with the Xinjiang Flying Tigers was basically the same as his performance in the G-League. With the Tigers, he averaged:
18.9 Points, 5.5 Rebounds, 8.4 Assists, 1.9 Steals, and 0.3 Blocks
42.6 FG%, 35.8 3P%, 86.7 FT%
33 Minutes
Even at 5'9," Felder has the fifth-highest rebounds per game on the Tigers. His teammate, Abudurexiti Abudushalam, who's 6'8," averaged fewer rebounds (5.0) than Felder.
Pat Connaughton: 2015 NBA Draft Combine
Pat Connaughton is the last person to record the third highest vertical jump in the NBA Draft Combine. Connaughton is a 6'5" Shooting Guard drafted in the 2015 NBA Draft by the Brooklyn Nets as the 41st pick. The rights to Connaughton were traded to the Portland Trailblazers. He played with the Trailblazers from 2015-18 before joining the Milwaukee Bucks, which he's still with as of 2021.
Connaughton's three seasons with the Trailblazers were uneventful. He only played 34 games in the first season (2015-16) and 39 games in the second season (2016-17). In his third season, he finally got more than ten minutes of playing time (18.1) and played every regular-season game. In this season, he averaged:
5.4 Points, 2.0 Rebounds, 1.1 Assists, 0.3 Steals, and 0.3 Blocks
42.3 FG%, 35.2 3P%, 84.1 FT%
18 Minutes
When Connaughton joined the Milwaukee Bucks, his minutes stayed the same, but he improved slightly. In the 2020-21 NBA season, he averaged 4.8 rebounds per game, a career-high thus far. He also has an 11.1% rebounding percentage which means that he grabbed 11.1% of the available shots that could be rebounded!
Like Cassius Stanley and Nate Robinson, Connaughton participated in the Dunk Contest (2020). In his second dunk, he dunked over his teammate, Giannis Antetokounmpo, who's 6'11!" The dunk got him a perfect score! However, Connaughton lost to Aaron Gordon and Derrick Jones Jr.
44.5 Inch Vertical Jump: Two Players
Here are the players with a 44.5-inch vertical jump:
Hamidou Diallo: 2017
Jericho Sims: 2021
Hamidou Diallo: 2017 NBA Draft Combine
We're finally in the Top 3 of players with the highest vertical jump in the NBA Draft Combine. Hamidou Diallo is a 6'5" Small Forward drafted in the 2018 NBA Draft by the Oklahoma City Thunder as the 45th pick. After only 109 games with the Thunder, Diallo was traded to the Detroit Pistons for Svi Mykhailliuk and a 2027 second-round pick.
In his first season with the Thunder, Diallo barely got any minutes. He played 10.3 minutes per game and averaged 3.7 points and 1.9 rebounds on 45.5 FG%. Although his field-goal percentage is decent, Diallo has never been an excellent three-point shooter, shooting 29.1% from the three-point line throughout his career thus far. He also is not the best free-throw shooter, his highest FT% being 66.7%.
It is not surprising that Diallo is below-average at shooting since he relies more on fastbreaks and is close-to-mid-range floaters. His draft report says that he "needs to improve his shooting consistency from all areas of the court, including free throws," which is still applicable to this day.
When with the Thunder, Diallo was competing for minutes with Paul George (who was an MVP candidate in 2017), so it makes sense that Diallo barely got any playing time. However, now that he is on the rebuilding Detroit Pistons, he has (somewhat) found a role with the team. In the 2020-21 NBA season, Diallo averaged:
11.2 Points, 5.4 Rebounds, 1.2 Assists, 0.5 Steals, and 0.6 Blocks
46.8 FG%, 39.0 3P%, 66.2 FT%
23.3 Minutes
Diallo "somewhat" found a role because, in the 2021 NBA Draft, the Pistons drafted Cade Cunningham, who played Shooting Guard/Small Forward, "stealing" Diallo's playing time. I can't blame the Pistons for prioritizing their first pick!
Finally, like Nate Robinson, Diallo won an NBA Dunk Contest (2019)! He became the first Thunder player to win a dunk contest! In his second dunk, he dunked over Shaquille O' Neal, who is eight inches taller than Diallo! However, no offense to Diallo, but this Dunk Contest was pretty weak.
Jericho Sims: 2021 NBA Draft Combine
Jericho Sims is in second place for the highest vertical jump in the NBA Draft Combine. Sims is a 6'10" Power Forward drafted by the New York Knicks as the 58th pick in the 2021 NBA Draft. Considering that Julius Randle, the Knicks star player, is also a Power Forward and the backup Power Forward, Obi Toppin, who has been showing growth, Sims has only played nine NBA games.
Within those nine games, Sims averaged:
1.0 Points, 1.7 Rebounds, 0.1 Assists, 0.2 Steals, and 0.4 Blocks
100.0 FG%, 75.0 FT%
6.4 Minutes
Within those nine games, Sims' best game was on November 27th, 2021, against the Atlanta Hawks. He played 21 minutes, scored six points, grabbed six rebounds, and got one steal and two blocks. He also shot 100% from the field and the free-throw line!
For some reason, Sims has only played one G-League game. He should definitely be playing more if the Knicks want him to improve. Nevertheless, Sims played decently in his one G-League game. He put up:
11.0 Points, 19.0 Rebounds, 2.0 Blocks
45.5 FG%, 33.3 FT%
39.2 Minutes
Although he grabbed 19 rebounds, only scoring 11 points with 39 minutes of playing time is not the best. In addition, his free-throw shooting was poor, and he had five turnovers.
The Highest Vertical Jump: Keon Johnson (48 Inches)
Finally, the player with the highest vertical jump in the NBA Draft Combine, who also happens to be from the 2021 NBA Draft like Jericho Sims, is Keon Johnson. The chance of someone beating Johnson's vertical jump is rare, considering that Johnson's vertical jump is 3.5 inches higher than the second-highest vertical jump. Wilt Chamberlain also had a 48-inch jump, but it is not confirmed.
Johnson is a 6'5" Shooting Guard drafted by the Los Angeles Clippers in the 2021 NBA Draft as the 21st pick. Like Sims, Johnson has not played many games, only playing five NBA games so far. Within those five games, Johnson averaged:
1.8 Points, 0.6 Rebounds, 0.4 Assists, 0.2 Steals
28.6 FG%, 83.3 FT%
4.6 Minutes
Definitely not the best stat-line. On a more positive note, Johnson has been playing better in the G-League. In nine games with the Agua Caliente Clippers, Johnson has averaged:
15.9 Points, 5.3 Rebounds, 5.2 Assists, 1.7 Steals, and 0.6 Blocks
49.2 FG%, 35.3 3P%, 85.7 FT%
30.4 Minutes
Like many of the shooting guards listed here, Johnson is more of a slasher than a shooter. Despite his below-average wingspan, he is also an above-average defender (6.725 ft). In the 2021 NBA Draft Combine, Johnson had the fifth shortest standing reach and the shortest standing reach amongst shooting guards.
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