BIOGRAPHY
Zach Collins was born on November 19, 1997, in North Las Vegas, Nevada. He is a power forward and center in the NBA.
Collins played high school basketball at Bishop Gorman High School, in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he helped to lead his school to four consecutive state championships. For his first 3 seasons at Bishop Gorman, Collins came off the bench and played alongside fellow 7-footers and McDonald's All-Americans Stephen Zimmerman and Chase Jeter.
Collins made the most of his senior year, averaging 17.3 points, 14 rebounds, 3.1 assists, and 6.4 blocked shots on his way to the most valuable player of Nevada's Southwest League and the Nevada Gatorade Player of the Year award. Collins also broke Nevada's single-season record for most rebounds and blocked shots during his senior season.
In the summer of 2015, Collins competed in the FIBA 3x3 Under-18 World Championships, where he teamed up with Jalek Felton, Peyton Pritchard, and P.J. Washington and won the USA tournament. His team moved on to represent the USA at the 2015 World Championship in Debrecen, Hungary, where they finished in eighth place. His team advanced to the final 16 where they defeated Poland, but then lost a close game to France, featuring fellow Gonzaga commit Killian Tillie, in the quarter-finals.
Despite only being rated as a 4-star prospect, Collins was named to the 2016 McDonald's All-American Game. Collins was the first McDonald's All-American to commit to Gonzaga out of high school, but three other McDonald's All-American transferred to Gonzaga after attending other colleges: Micah Downs, Kyle Wiltjer, and Nigel Williams-Goss. Collins helped to lead the West squad to a 114-107 win in the while scoring 9 points, along with 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals on 3-for-5 fields goals and 1-for-2 3-pointers in 12 minutes of play.
As a freshman at Gonzaga, Collins usually played off the bench as a center, working in rotation – and occasionally in tandem – with fifth-year senior center Przemek Karnowski. During the 2016–17 season, he averaged 10 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks over 17.3 minutes of playing time per game. In the national semifinal game of the 2017 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament, Collins scored 14 points, collected 13 rebounds, and made six blocks, as the Zags defeated the South Carolina Gamecocks, 77–73, sending them to their first national championship game.
At the conclusion of his freshman season, Collins announced his intention to forgo his final three years of college eligibility and enter the 2017 NBA draft. He was drafted 10th overall by the Sacramento Kings and subsequently traded to the Portland Trail Blazers. On July 3, 2017, Collins signed with the Trail Blazers.
