Crazy to think Duke’s Zion Williamson would shut it down for NBA Draft
Zion Williamson can’t do much more to bolster his NBA Draft stock, but there’s no way he should shut it down for the season.
A viral dunking sensation during his high school career, Zion Williamson has delivered as advertised thus far in his freshman season at Duke. He has practically secured his status as the No. 1 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, and on ESPN’s The Jump earlier this week analysts Tracy McGrady and Scottie Pippen advocated for Williamson shutting it down so as not to jeopardize his status for June’s draft.
Williamson is averaging 21.2 points, 9.4 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.9 blocks per game this season. He’s shooting a phenomenal 66.2 percent from the floor, with a 41.6 PER that leads the country. He’s got some work to do as a 3-point shooter though, as he’s hitting just 27.3 percent from beyond the arc right now with 15 of his 33 attempts on the season coming over the last four games.
There is the risk of a serious injury for Williamson, but the risk for him is not really any greater than it is for teammates and fellow top draft prospects RJ Barrett and Cam Reddish. There is also a strong argument for Barrett as a better NBA prospect than Williamson, bit there’s no talk he should shut it down.
Tracy McGrady and @ScottiePippen don’t agree on whether Zion Williamson is the best player on his Duke team - but regardless, they both think he should stop playing NCAA ball right now, to eliminate the risk of injury before the draft. pic.twitter.com/7Egu42FjfJ
— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) January 16, 2019
ESPN’s Jalen Rose was on The Dan Patrick Show Thursday and made the fine point that Williamson would benefit from playing out the season under Mike Krzyzewski since his first NBA coach is unlikely to carry that acumen. Apart from that, there’s the benefit to playing games, in the consistent spotlight Duke is under, rather than working out and playing pickup games on his own to stay in shape for June’s draft.
It’s become a trend for college football players who will be leaving to skip mostly meaningless bowl games to prepare for the NFL Draft. So it’s easy to suggest that should shift to college basketball, and players (particularly one-and-dones?) who have their eye on the NBA.
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Any call for Williamson to done’sit down seems to be rooted in the idea college athletes shouldn’t work for no pay any longer than they have to. But the parallel between the top football and basketball players ends there, and when Williamson is asked about it he’ll surely shrug off the suggestion he’ll voluntarily not finish out his lone college season.
As a basketball player, he loves playing basketball. There’s zero chance he’s shut it down to prepare for the NBA Draft.