The 2025 NBA Draft Combine unfolds from May 11 to May 18 at Chicago’s Wintrust Arena.
At the event, more than 120 of the world’s top draft-eligible talents to showcase their skills and measurements before NBA teams.
Over eight days of medical exams, athletic testing, shooting drills and five-on-five scrimmages, a standout performance emerged not from a household name, but from an 18-year-old Australian giant: Rocco Zikarsky.
Zikarsky boasts an imposing 7-foot-4 barefoot height and a 257-pound frame, but it was his measured standing reach of 9-foot-6½ inches that captured scouts’ attention during the standing vertical jump test.
ESPN draft analyst Jonathan Givony reposted the video on X, showcasing Zikarsky's ridiculous measurement.
Born on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, Zikarsky honed his game through Australia’s elite pathways: Queensland representative squads, the NBA Global Academy in Canberra, and the prestigious Centre of Excellence program.
He signed with the Brisbane Bullets as the youngest Next Star in league history at just 16, making his NBL debut in the 2023-24 season and logging 27 games with averages of 3.2 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.0 blocks in limited minutes.
On the international stage, Zikarsky represented Australia at the FIBA U16 Asian Championship and 2022 U17 World Cup before starring at the 2024 Albert Schweitzer Tournament, earning MVP honors with averages of 18.7 points, 11.0 rebounds and 2.9 blocks per game.
Philadelphia 76ers
Kansas’ Johnny Furphy NBA at the Draft Lottery.
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Measurements have always played a pivotal role in pre-draft evaluations, but Zikarsky’s unprecedented standing reach positions him in rarefied air.
For context, the average standing reach for NBA centers at last year’s combine hovered around 9 feet, making Zikarsky’s 9-foot-6½ reach a clear outlier.