A gargantuan 7-foot-3 Chinese basketball star, 16, has dubbed a “cheat code” and could shake up the WNBA rivalry between Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese.

The WNBA could be big, big worry.

The Women’s National Basketball Association is thriving right now thanks to a new generation of superstars taking the league by storm and the Magic Johnson-Larry Bird rivalry between Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese.

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Clark and Reese appear poised to dominate the WNBA over the next decade, but a Chinese basketball star might have something to say about that and could disrupt their duopoly.

Zhang Ziyu, who stands 7 feet 3 inches tall on the official FIBA ​​website, is a 16-year-old basketball player and recently made her international debut for the Chinese national team, giving the world a glimpse of her stunning figure.

She went a perfect 9 of 9 from the field for 19 points, along with seven rebounds, two assists, two steals and three blocks – all in 13 minutes coming off the bench in a 109-50 win over the Indonesia in the opening match. of the FIBA ​​U18 Women’s Asian Cup 2024 in China.

Highlights of Ziyu’s performance went viral as fans reacted to seeing her for the first time.

The immensely tall teenager – reported in some circles to be 7ft 5in, which would make her taller than Victor Wembanyama – dominates her much smaller opposition and makes her virtually unstoppable around the basket.

She grabs rebounds, blocks shots and scores layups with ease as helpless defenders try in vain to stop her.

“Zhang Ziyu is a cheat code,” one fan wrote.

“Lmao Angel Reese is so cooked,” another joked.

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“She will dominate the wnba, she is pretty strong built, unlike a lot of these gigantic kids who are just skin and bones,” posted a third.

“The WNBA is not ready for this,” wrote a fourth.

Zhang has been on the radar for a while now after drawing comparisons to fellow countryman and NBA legend Yao Ming.

She quickly became known as “the female Yao Ming” in China – a significant comparison given that Ming is considered one of the country’s greatest sportspeople and was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016.

The gigantic Ziyu was almost 2.13 meters tall and 11 years old. She towered over her classmates at Wenhua East Road Primary School in Jinan, capital of eastern China’s Shandong province.

Both of her parents are former professional basketball players, who began teaching their daughter the sport when she was five.

Her father is 7 feet tall and her mother, Yu Ying, is a 6-foot-6 former Chinese national team player who is now the coach of the Shandong provincial women’s basketball team.

When Ziyu was 14, she went viral on Chinese social media site Weibo after leading her team to a National U15 Basketball League championship.

Zhang recorded 42 points, 25 rebounds and six blocks in the championship game.

One of the Weibo users wrote at the time: “The future of Chinese women’s basketball is counting on you. »

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In 2022, she scored 68 points and 24 rebounds while representing her hometown Jinan against Zibo.

It was Zhang’s second over-60 game in less than three weeks after contributing 62 points and 13 rebounds in the National Under-15 Championship final against Changzhou.

“It’s not just her height, she also has a high basketball IQ, good hands and is very smart on the court,” said her high school coach, Luan Mingjie.

“As far as her athletic abilities go, she can jump and run. She doesn’t need that at this level because defenders can barely reach her elbow when she raises both hands to shoot a basket or grab a rebound. She has a lot more to offer than she showed at the junior level.

Zhang is now making big waves on the international circuit.

Every WNBA team will be on high alert after showing such dominance in their first national team gig.

Surely it won’t be long before she graces the WNBA hardwood.