New Orleans Pelicans: the league talks about Zion Williamson

What Zion’s teammates have to say…

Playing with such a hyped player is not always easy.

Sure, Zion Williamson makes the team better, is seemingly a great teammate and overall good guy, but it has to be hard to give over the entire spotlight to a 19-year-old rookie.

That hasn’t stopped his teammates from giving glowing reviews about Zion Williamson, going back to his time at Duke.

Former Blue Devil teammate R.J. Barrett had this to say about Zion Williamson in an interview before the Rising Stars Challenge:

"“It’s just I feel like with him he’s a player that we haven’t even seen before. It’s like, how do you even guard it?…I’ll give you the secret,” he said. “He’s going to do what he’s going to do, and you can’t stop it.”"

And Barrett has been right. How do you stop this?

https://twitter.com/PelicansNBA/status/1235417165903228928

Zion Williamson has averaged 23.6 points and 6.8 rebounds in his 19 games as a pro, and has looked like the best player in many years in the process.

His New Orleans Pelicans’ teammates agree.

Josh Hart was immediately impressed with Zion’s poise after his debut in which he scored 17 straight points. Hart said in the post-game press conference:

"To start the game, he wasn’t going 100 miles an hour trying to get that first bucket and get that monkey off his back. He made the right plays and I think that’s the biggest thing, especially for someone (his) age. With so many eyes on you, and so much pressure on you, it’s easy to conform and whether we win or lose have your debut be successful. He went out there and made the right plays and played well defensively."

Running mate Lonzo Ball has also been impressed and thinks he and and Zion have barely scratched the surface of their enormous potential together. He too was effusive in the press conference after Zion’s debut

"“Our games just complement each other. [Zion Williamson] gets out on the break. He’s a big, physical body. He screens and roll, I come off for the screen and pass. You know, we’ll help each other a lot.”"

Jrue Holiday was also blown away by Zion, saying,

"“He can miss and catch it in the air and dunk it. It’s God-given.”"

But not all of the praise heaped on Zion Williamson has been about his on the court feats. Nickeil Alexander-Walker had this to say on Zion’s character:

"God gave it to the right person,” Nickeil Alexander-Walker said to Christian Clark of Nola.com. You couldn’t have chose a better person to have what he has. The way he handles himself. The way he carries himself. How he moves as if he knows who he is at the end of the day. You’re not going to tell Zion who he is. There’s no way he’s going to feel moved by what the followers say — zero or 4 million."

Zion has showed that character during the hiatus, stepping up to help the workers at Smoothie King Center during this national crisis.

Zion Williamson has clearly gained the respect of his New Orleans Pelicans’ teammates, but also from some of the greats.