It’s the summer off-season for the regular NBA. We say “regular,” since the league is having a little bit of fun with the summer league games being played in Las Vegas. Teams get to check out draft prospects and potential walk-on players.
(Indeed, Shaq’s son Shareef is showing off his skills to the Los Angeles Lakers in the summer league, but that’s another story for another day…)
For the regular team rosters in the Association, it’s a time for rest, recuperation from a hard-fought season…and for some big-name players, perhaps a trade. (Lookin’ at you, KD.)
One of those players still making a recovery in the off season is New Orleans Pelicans star Zion Williamson. Zion entered the league in 2019 after being the Number One pick in that year’s NBA Draft.
The choice of Williamson was certainly a no-brainer. He was light-years ahead of most of his peers coming out of high school and college. He had the body and athleticism to maybe – just maybe – become one of the most dominant players in the league some day.
Yet as we’ve seen, Zion appears to have a big downside, too… in the name of injuries. Injury prone? That’s hard to judge. There’s no real stat line for that. Still, the big man has yet to make his full potential known in the NBA. After three seasons, he’s yet to play a full season. Over the past three campaigns, Williamson has played a total of only 85 games for the Pelicans.
Still, the Pelicans and their fans remain high on Zion, as do NBA analysts. The team has given him a big-money contract extension. And on the occasion of his (only!) 22nd birthday this week, one ESPN analyst invoked the name of our favorite big man for a comparison that “might” happen in the future.
Reviewing his playing career up to now, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst had some Shaq-sized praise for Williamson, saying Zion is poised to become “The most dominant interior scorer in the NBA since Shaq.”
Here’s the ESPN video of the comments:
Wow… big, big praise and potential! As we know, NBA legend and Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal is widely regarded as one of the most dominant players to ever step into the NBA hardwood. Across his career, but especially during his time with the Lakers, Shaq ripped through opposing defenses with his ridiculously strong interior, down-low game.
So the question remains: Can Zion live up to the hype? Comparisons with Shaq will come and go, but first, Williamson needs to prove he can stay healthy and be a contributor across an entire season.
As always, time will tell. Unless something else crazy happens in the next few weeks, Williamson will no doubt be ready for the season opener. What happens after that remains to be seen. We’ll be watching, big guy!