ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? MVP! MVP! MVP! MV-er wait *clears throat.* I mean uh, did you see Zion’s debut for the Pelicans a couple days ago? It was pretty cool. I’ll be the first to admit that I did not think Zion was going to be all that coming out of high school. I believe some of my earliest thoughts on him were as follows: “All he does is dunk; that’s not going to transfer over well to the college game; he’ll get exposed when he plays people his size and speed.” Well I was wrong about all that – he’s much more than a dunker and his game most certainly transferred over to college. Now it looks like it’ll transfer over to the NBA, too.
In fact, his debut – and, more specifically, scoring 17 points in three minutes of game time – was scintillating and extraordinarily fun to watch. Really the only downside to it was that it came with the New Orleans Pelicans, who in the span of 1.5 years have shot from being almost unwatchable to must-see T.V. Whenever I watch Zion play, I’m blown away by his explosiveness. According to the Pelicans’ website, he’s 6’6 and weighs 284 pounds, but you wouldn’t know it when his eyes reach the height of the rim on dunks. That kind of athleticism is unreal, and it’s what makes Zion so fun to watch.
With all that out of the way let’s talk about some justified and in no way over-the-top reactions. First off, Ja Morant needs to move over because Zion will be the rookie of the year. In fact, Giannis and Luka can move over too, because Zion will be the MVP of the season. What am I basing this assertion on? Well, if we assume Zion works his way up to playing about thirty-six minutes a night, and if he scored 17 points in three minutes, then we can logically say that he’ll average 204 points per game. Now I don’t need to be an NBA expert to tell you that that level of scoring is unprecedented and would leave even James Harden awestruck. Heck, with that output the Pelicans might even make the playoffs! Who knows what could happen!
Why not just give Zion the MVP for this season, next season, and each foreseeable season after that? Why not rename the New Orleans Pelicans to the New Orleans Zion Williamson’s? Let’s have Zion be his own all-star team and compete against the best from the east and the west. Let’s have the dunk contest just be Zion running through his usual pre-game routine for 20-30 minutes. The possibilities are endless.