Who turns the gravity off whenever Zion Williamson steps onto a basketball court? Or does Earth’s gravitational pull not work the same on Williamson as it does for the rest of us? When Zion leaps for a dunk, he explodes like a rocket and, for a moment, it’s like he’s headed for orbit.
Williamson’s pulverizing dunks will lure you in, but the rest of his game will make you a believer in his superstar potential. Zion can do much more than jump, and he showed off the full repertoire in Duke’s 118-84 dismantling of no. 2 ranked Kentucky Tuesday night. Zion and his teammates, fellow projected top picks R.J. Barrett and Cam Reddish, nearly outscored the Wildcats on their own with 83 combined points. It was the inauguration of college basketball’s newest superteam, and Zion was the main attraction. Williamson had 28 points on 11-for-13 shooting with seven rebounds, two assists, and one steal. Oh, and a block on Nick Richards that nearly ripped the Kentucky big man’s right arm out of its socket, and that led to a rumbling Zion pushing the ball on a fast break and delivering a heads-up bounce pass to a streaking Barrett for a lay-in. It was Zion’s most impressive play of the night:
Williamson moves so fluidly that it’s easy to forget he’s so heavy. He’s 6-foot-7 and 285 pounds with a 6-foot-10 wingspan—the height and length of a wing with more weight than any NBA player other than Boban Marjanovic, who’s 7-foot-3. But Williamson is skilled: He’s a power guard who can do it all on the court. He’s energetic on defense. He’ll dive for loose balls, chase down rebounds, or, like in the play above, fly out of nowhere to swat a layup attempt. Williamson lacks ideal length and standing reach to be a true rim protector, and his defensive technique and discipline needs work, but he plays hard and displays the agility to move laterally and the strength to contain opponents on the interior. Zion’s defense is at a satisfying point for his age—he just turned 18 in July.
When he causes turnovers by blocking shots or jumping passing lanes, he activates his own playmaking ability, an outlier skill for his size and build. He has enough agility to burn just about any defender at the college level, but as though that weren’t enough, he also has the tight handle and advanced moves to get to the rim for scores and deliver accurate passes off the dribble. Williamson played point guard until ninth grade, and it shows.
Watch above as Zion skies over a defender for a rebound, takes the ball up the court, then hits Tre Jones with the bounce pass for a layup. It’s not an exaggeration to say the last player to possess this type of skill with similar physical makeup was Charles Barkley. That’s what makes Williamson such a fascinating fit for the NBA. In today’s positionless league, Williamson could serve as the screener or as the ball handler in the pick-and-roll. If he’s dribbling on the perimeter against a slower player, he can press turbo and attack:
Zion has an unfair first step. Big players should not be able to move so quickly. It’s like giving Rob Gronkowski the agility of Todd Gurley. Williamson will be a perimeter threat with or without a screen. And if he gets matched up against a smaller player, he can slide to the paint:
Williamson can finish with either hand, absorb contact, and lay the ball up with touch. In the two plays above, he uses a lone dribble timed with his backdown to get closer to the rim. He needs to develop more post moves, but his footwork and touch suggest he can thrive if he puts in the time to learn.
Scoring out of the pick-and-roll is about the only thing Williamson didn’t do Tuesday. Duke ran very few pick-and-rolls all game, and none involved him. This won’t be the case at the next level; NBA teams run pick-and-roll at a far higher rate than most college teams. Especially the Blue Devils, who have finished no more than 16.5 percent of their total possessions using the pick-and-roll since 2014-15, according to Synergy Sports. That would’ve ranked last in the NBA over the same time frame.
Zion has body proportions similar to Barkley’s; he’s more explosive than Prime Blake Griffin; and with his passing ability, he can find open players like he’s Draymond Green. He could be a one-man Lob City. He possesses a fusion of all the traits that make big men successful in the NBA today. Williamson can set on-ball screens and rumble down the lane, plus he’s a savvy cutter who excels as an offensive rebounder.
Keep your eyes on Williamson in the play above. If you can’t, don’t blame yourself, blame the cameraperson. The ESPN broadcast zooms in on the corner 3 being attempted, taking Zion completely out of the frame; he’s somewhere behind the score bug. Then, all of a sudden, he’s not only in focus, but he’s already secured an absurd offensive rebound. It’ll take an adjustment period for everyone to get used to what Williamson can do. He’s an athletic specimen with instincts. Williamson perfectly reads the trajectory of rebounds, gets to the spot before anyone else does, and only then uses his elite leaping ability to elevate above mere mortals to secure the ball. It’s these foundational abilities, at a minimum, that can make Williamson a regular contributor at the next level.
The biggest question is his jumper. Williamson looks like Julius Randle when he shoots—it’s as if the ball is weighted. But he’s not a non-shooter like Ben Simmons. He’s just subpar, and that could be enough considering his other skills.
Williamson’s ballhandling ability enables him to create space to pull up. In the play above, Williamson probably should’ve attacked the basket or moved the ball rather than settle for a deep 2 with so much time left on the clock. But it does show his potential as a shooter off the bounce. Bigs who are threats to shoot dribble jumpers can enter a new stratosphere as pros because of their shot-creation skills. The less you have to rely on guards to create opportunities for you, the more valuable you become in the NBA.
Williamson has been impressive shooting the ball since joining the Blue Devils; he hit his lone 3 against the Wildcats. Now it’s a matter of sustaining his success through the rest of the season and pre-draft workouts. His accuracy will play a factor in determining if a team feels confident enough to choose him no. 1. At the least, Williamson projects as a passable shooter. With so many other dynamic skills as a shot creator or rim runner at the NBA level, average shooting should be enough for a creative coaching staff to daydream all summer long about how to best utilize Zion.
Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski got off to a good start balancing Williamson’s usage with Barrett and Reddish. Their minutes were staggered in their debut, and that will likely continue. Expect all of Coach K’s stars to receive minutes as a trio and as lone focal points. This is good news for scouting purposes. It’s nice to see a player operate in different conditions—unlike John Calipari’s platoon system for the 2014-15 Wildcats. Williamson will get reps alongside shot creators to prove he can hit spot-up 3s at an efficient clip. And, conversely, he’ll continue to receive playmaking opportunity with talented teammates to pass to.
We’ve already seen many sides of Williamson, and it’s been only one game. Over the next five months, we will learn everything we need to. And we will be entertained along the way. Opening night was just a tease. Duke just destroyed Kentucky; what will happen to upcoming opponents like Eastern Michigan, Hartford, and Princeton? The next ranked opponent it’s scheduled to face is Clemson on January 6. Duke could be undefeated entering the New Year, and the hype will only grow for Williamson and his teammates—Barrett was Duke’s best overall player Tuesday, and Reddish will have more high-scoring games.
Williamson’s physics-destroying dunks will create their own cottage industry of viral highlights, and he’s already amassed a massive social media following. We saw the hype machine go into overdrive last season for Trae Young. It’s about to go into hyperdrive for Williamson. Once January comes along, and conference play begins, it’ll be a new challenge for Williamson, like it was for Young, whose production crashed once teams had a chance to build their game plans around his singular talents. But I would bet against that happening for Duke. There’s just too much talent on the team to stop the Blue Devils completely—there’s a legitimate chance that Duke will run the table. No matter how Williamson is shooting and scoring, he can make a difference with his passing, rebounding, or hustle. He’s the complete package, and his rising stardom seems as gravity-defying as he is.
