How Powerful Is Zion Williamson? Well...
...freakishly so.
When he’s been healthy, former Duke star Zion Williamson has dominated the NBA in a way that few players ever have. His combination of power, quickness and a high basketball IQ make it virtually impossible to stop him. He’s the inverse of the classic tweener: too strong for the small guys and too quick for the big guys.
Actually, he’s too quick for the small guys and too strong for the big guys too.
How strong? It’s been measure and it’s actually kind of mind-boggling. Check this out (our bold):
“He jumped down from an 18-inch box before quickly leaping as high as possible. When he did, those force plates recorded that he had created 4,900 newtons worth of force - about twice the amount needed to crack a brick with a karate punch. It was also the highest such figure the P3 officials had ever seen.”
P3 is a sports performance firm and the founder, Dr. Marcus Elliott, added this: “Zion has the highest peak force of any athlete we’ve ever assessed and he was still in high school.”
Later in the article is this shocker: Williamson put on eight pounds of muscle in one week with the Pelicans.
It’s still just stunning how much raw power and talent Williamson has. Insert shocked-faced emoji at your leisure.