If you were waiting for a true heavyweight battle in women’s basketball, you got it Friday morning at the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup when 6’3″ Angel Reese faced off against China’s 7’3″ (that’s not a typo) giant Zhang Ziyu.
If what we witnessed in this game is any indication of the future, 19-year-old Ziyu, who is projected to be a first-round pick in the 2027 WNBA Draft, better get ready to be hacked worse than Caitlin Clark by the league’s mean girls brigade. Ziyu had 13 points and six rebounds in the 94-61 loss to Team USA.
“This was a different type of basketball game that I probably ever played in my entire life. I’ve never played against a woman of that size. She obviously presented some challenges for us, but you gotta give our post players a lot of credit,” Clark said after the game.
Reese seemed to give teams the blueprint to slowing down the Chinese giant –– hack her until the whistle blows, just like how the mean girls play defense on Clark. But, unlike Clark, who has proven to be mentally unstoppable, the mean girls might be onto something.
Listen to Ziyu screaming like she’s having her arms chopped off. It’s either the greatest strategy in basketball history to get to the foul line (she was 9-of-10 on free throws today), or Ziyu is brittle and will be eaten up mentally by the WNBA’s mean girl mafia.
Look, let’s face the facts here: Ziyu isn’t ready for Primetime. As one social media analyst put it, Ziyu couldn’t jump over a piece of paper. “Why bring the ball down? Just stand up , weird,” another fan wrote on X.
Meanwhile, we’re told that there’s no way 6’3″ French trans basketball phenom Julie Tetart – remember, the WNBA says it would be open to a trans player – could play in the WNBA. Wait, but Ziyu is said to be a top prospect? Tetart’s ex-teammates say getting hit by the transgender scoring and rebounding queen is like being hit by a train.
WNBA SILENT ON WHETHER FRENCH TRANSGENDER STAR DOMINATING WOMEN’S LEAGUE WOULD BE ELIGIBLE TO PLAY
ZERO BS. JUST DAKICH. TAKE THE DON’T @ ME PODCAST ON THE ROAD. DOWNLOAD NOW!
If you think Ziyu is bawling over Reese’s dirty defensive tactics, just imagine how she’d react to a jacked-up Tetart ramming forearms into her doughy obliques.
Your move, WNBA.
