New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson is about to begin his fifth season in the NBA. And, by the looks of this video (see below), he is also about to participate in a new collaboration with Gatorade.
To kick-off the upcoming 2023-24 NBA Season, Williamson has partnered with Gatorade to create a limited (first-of-its-kind) custom Gatorade Smart Gx Bottle. An image of the bottle is included below.
“I want my bottle to communicate to younger athletes to be who you are,” Williamson said in the video discussing his collaboration. “Life is all about facing adversity and how you respond to it.”
“My mom always taught me to stay true to who I am, and the rest will take care of itself. I love how because when you are at the top, people talk about you like you are different.”
Williamson has faced his fair share of adversity over the last few years. After being selected number one overall in the 2019 NBA Draft, people have constantly criticized the forward for his conditioning and inability to stay on the floor. He wants his custom Gatorade bottle to symbolize his journey and the perseverance he’s had to demonstrate to get where he is now.
“What propels me to keep going and keep pushing is the people around me,” Williamson said. “They believed me. While I rise to the top, I think about those moments like ‘These people believed in me. I should believe in myself.'”
Williamson joins 15 Gatorade roster athletes who have previously designed their very own Gx Collaboration bottle, including Serena Williams, Jayson Tatum, Trevor Lawrence, and Paige Bueckers.
A cool little wrinkle here is that Williamson’s custom Smart Gx Bottle will be featured on 2K24, with an authentic integration of the bottle throughout gameplay.
Only 2,500 bottles were created, and they are available on Gatorade.com for a retail price of $59.99 (here is the link for those who are interested).