High School Sneak Peek: The emergence of Zion Williamson
Krysten Peek has been covering high school and grassroots basketball for the past seven years for Rivals.com. In this series, she takes us back to when some of the NBA’s biggest stars were just getting started in high school.
Zion Williamson hit the scene in high school with his crazy dunks and athleticism. Drake wore his high school jersey to one of his shows, and Williamson seemingly went from high school star to celebrity overnight.
I first saw Williamson as a sophomore at the NBPA Top 100 Camp during the spring of 2016. He blended in with the other forwards and was about 100 pounds lighter than he is now. You could see glimpses of his explosiveness and his touch around the rim.
Later in the summer, Williamson was invited to the Adidas Nations camp in California and he was competing with players older and, believe it or not, stronger than him. There was one play in particular that stood out in which he came down the lane in transition and tried to poster his opponent. It didn’t go in, but it was the most impressive play of the weekend.
Zion Williamson between his sophomore and junior year in high school. Most impressive play of the camp and it didn't even go in. Only a year later and he would be making this transition dunk EVERY SINGLE TIME 😤😳 pic.twitter.com/stpsQnUiLs
— Krysten Peek (@krystenpeek) April 11, 2020
Once Williamson started his junior year in high school, his dunks were being featured on SportsCenter and his social media following shot up. During the summer season, Williamson and LaMelo Ball played in the biggest, craziest AAU game I’ve ever seen in my career and it delivered on every level.
His senior season was filled with the highest honors and he dominated every game and camp he attended. He was the No. 2-ranked player in the country (behind future teammate R.J. Barrett) and was pursued by bluebloods like Kansas, North Carolina, Duke and Kentucky. Williamson received the coveted invite to the USA Basketball training camp and received one of the highest high school honors when he was named a McDonald’s All-American.
Williamson shocked everyone, including coach Mike Krzyzewski, when he chose Duke over Kentucky and his hometown school, Clemson. Duke already had three of the top-10 players in the class with Tre Jones, Barrett and Cam Reddish. With Williamson, this was arguably the greatest Duke recruiting class of all time.
The rest is history, with Williamson owning the college basketball space in his one year at Duke. Williamson was on ESPN constantly and in just one half of a basketball game, announcers Jay Bilas and Dan Shulman mentioned his name 76 times. (It’s true, I counted.) The Pelicans chose him No. 1 overall in the 2019 NBA draft and in the 19 NBA games he played before the season’s suspension, he’s averaged an astoundingly efficient 23.6 points and 6.8 rebounds. And yet it feels like he’s just scratching the surface of is immense potential.
More from Yahoo Sports: