Alright, so the other day I got thinking about those crazy athletes in the NBA. You see these guys flying through the air, and it just makes you wonder, you know? Who actually got up the highest? Like, the absolute highest vertical jump in the whole history of the league.
So, first thing I did, jumped on the computer. Typed in something simple like “highest vertical jump nba history”. Pretty straightforward, right? Well, not really.
Instantly, a bunch of names popped up. That’s where it got messy. You see one site saying one thing, another site saying something completely different. It wasn’t like looking up who scored the most points, where there’s a clear number one.
Finding the names, but not the answer
I started seeing names like:
- Wilt Chamberlain
- Michael Jordan
- Darrell Griffith
- Zach LaVine
- Even some newer guys
And the numbers were all over the place! Some articles mentioned crazy numbers, like 48 inches, even whispers of 50 inches for guys like Wilt back in the day. But then you start digging. How did they even measure that stuff way back then? Was it official? Or just gym stories that got bigger over time? You know how that goes.
Then there’s Michael Jordan. Everyone knows MJ could fly. His name comes up constantly. But again, pinning down an exact, verifiable number that’s definitively the highest ever? Tougher than I thought.
Official vs. Unofficial – That’s the tricky part
I realized pretty quick that there’s a big difference between what people say someone jumped and what was officially measured, like at the NBA Draft Combine. The combine records seem more reliable, at least for the guys who went through it in recent decades. You see names like Keon Johnson popping up with really high official measurements there, maybe around 48 inches for his max vertical.
But that doesn’t settle the score for the older legends. Guys like Wilt Chamberlain played way before the combine was like it is now. So, his reported massive vertical? It’s legendary, but finding solid proof is hard. It’s more like folklore. Same goes for guys like Darrell “Dr. Dunkenstein” Griffith – people swear he was getting way up there, maybe 48 inches too, but comparing that directly to a modern combine measurement isn’t apples to apples.
So, after poking around for a while, reading different articles, checking out some discussions online, I kinda landed here: there isn’t one single, easy answer everyone agrees on. It really depends if you’re talking about official combine numbers or legendary, maybe unofficial, leaps from back in the day.
If you want the highest officially measured max vertical at the combine, you look at guys like Keon Johnson. If you’re talking legends and stories, Wilt Chamberlain’s name always comes up with those monster numbers, even if they’re hard to totally confirm. Michael Jordan’s obviously in the conversation for being an incredible leaper too.
It was an interesting little rabbit hole to go down. Didn’t find one name carved in stone at the top, but learned a bit about why it’s so tricky to figure out. It’s not as simple as just looking it up.
