WS Chronicle

Ever since he made his debut on Jan. 22, Zion Williamson has been lighting up the NBA with his tremendous athleticism and jaw dropping dunks. Williamson missed the first 44 games of the season due to a knee injury. Since he has returned, Williamson has been as advertised.

Williamson was the No. 1 overall pick in last year’s draft and has played very well from the first game he has appeared in. In the fourth quarter of his first game, he scored 17 consecutive points for his team, going 4-4 on three-pointers during the stretch.

That first game was not a fluke as Williamson has continued to make his presence felt on the court nightly. Through 18 games, he has averaged 23.6 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game.  

The best is yet to come for Williamson, but it did force me to think about whether he would be the first young player I would take to start a franchise if I owned a team. There are several young stars in the league, but I wanted to limit my selections to rookies and second year players. 

After thinking about the first- and second-year players in the league, the only player that I would consider taking before Zion is Luka Doncic. Doncic has already established himself as one of the best players in the league. The flashy guard out of Slovenia has been playing professional basketball since he was a teenager, so his transition to the NBA has been an easy one.

Doncic was the rookie of the year last year and was selected to the All-Star team earlier this season. Doncic is also averaging 28.4 points, 9.4 rebounds and 8.7 assists this year, with 14 triple doubles.

I continued to go back and fourth as to which player I would take first if I had to choose between the two. Williamson is unlike any player we have seen before in the NBA, with his unique combination of size, strength and athleticism.  

At 6’6” and 285 lbs., Williamson is traditionally undersized for playing the power forward position. His tremendous leaping ability and strength more than make up for his height and in today’s NBA, his height is not as important as it would have been 20 years ago. If Zion stays relatively injury free, it would be hard not to see him in the hall of fame when his career is done.

I must be honest; I did not see Williamson’s game transitioning to NBA so easily. I thought he would struggle early on due to his lack of a consistent jump shot. In his lone year at Duke, Williamson overwhelmed his smaller college competition and I thought he would have an issue against bigger and stronger players in the NBA, but I was wrong. Williamson is turning into one of the must-watched players in the league and he is just getting started.

Doncic, on the other hand, plays like a seasoned veteran. He is flashy, can handle the rock and can shoot from anywhere on the floor. We have seen many flashy players before in the league, but he does it with such control and ease, I must remind myself sometimes that he is only 21 years old and in his second year.

Luka’s poise and play reminds me a lot of Magic Johnson mixed in with some Jason Kidd. At 6’7”, Doncic can get anywhere on the court he wants to and score. He also is one of the most gifted passers in the game as well.  

Based on his international experience as a teenager and his skillset, I had a feeling Doncic would be good, but not this good, right away in the league.  

It was hard choosing between the two players. If I had to select just one today, I would take Luke Doncic, just because his game is a little more refined than Williamson’s. My thoughts could change in a year or two as Zion continues to develop his offensive arsenal. I will just enjoy watching these two great players become even greater.