Zion Williamson play in the New Orleans Pelicans’ defeat to the Los Angeles Lakers impressed LeBron James. On Wednesday night, the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the New Orleans Pelicans by a score of 120-117 to secure a significant victory.
To be fair, everyone will focus on Matt Ryan’s game-winning jumper that sent the game into overtime, but for the most of the game, it appeared as though Zion Williamson would lead the Pelicans to victory over LeBron James and the Lakers.
Zion, in LeBron’s opinion, is poised for greatness.
Williamson was the best player on the field for New Orleans (27 PTS, 7 AST, 5 REB, 11/21 FG), thus it’s not his fault he and the Pelicans couldn’t overcome Brandon Ingram’s absence against the Lakers.
Williamson spent a lot of time battling James on both ends of the floor, and even though he lost, he was generally the better player.
James was impressed by Williamson’s effort despite the Lakers’ victory, and following their matchup, he had nothing but positive things to say about him. James stated that he thinks Williamson is headed for greatness in the NBA and that, despite the Pelicans’ limited health, Zion wowed him with his performance.
Zion deserves the accolades LeBron is giving him.
James’ opinions have a lot of weight in this situation since he is an expert at spotting talent in the NBA. Williamson has faced several challenges in his quest to return to the floor for the Pelicans, but despite his protracted absence, he has done so looking much like before. For Zion, there is still some rust to remove, but the early indications are quite positive.
Williamson and James both depended largely on their interior scoring when they first entered the league, thus there are some parallels between the two players.
When it comes to developing a three-point shooting, Zion doesn’t seem to have much promise, but James did the same thing when he was younger. Williamson has already established himself in the NBA, and at only 22 years old, he still has plenty of room to develop.
Williamson still needs to make some strides in his comeback to the floor, but so far this season, he’s looked better than anticipated. The fact that James made care to compliment Williamson after the game is also very revealing since it demonstrates that his excellent play is being taken note of.
The Pelicans will grow more dangerous as Williamson becomes more at ease, giving Zion the opportunity to develop into the star that LeBron and many others think he can be.
