NBA Season Preview 2019-20: The one reason to watch each and every team

New Orleans Pelicans: Zion, Zion and more Zion

There are other things we could talk about: Lonzo Ball with a tweaked jumper, confidently taking step-back 3s; Brandon Ingram, trying to live up to his draft billing despite an endless onslaught of long 2s; Jrue Holiday as the leader of a young group, continuing to toil away as one of the NBA’s most underrated two-way studs; rookies Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Jaxson Hayes, showing flashes of future greatness; Alvin Gentry’s fast-paced offense; a healthy Josh Hart; J.J. Redick trying to keep his playoff streak alive — it’s all here.

From A-Zion, though, the real reason to watch the New Orleans Pelicans is still Zion Williamson. He’s not the only reason to be excited about the Pelicans, but he’s pretty clearly the biggest one.

In his first four preseason games, Williamson put up 23.3 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists in just 27.7 minutes per game, shooting an insane 35-for-49 from the floor (71.4 percent). Even in preseason, that’s just stupid for anyone, let alone a 19-year-old rookie.

We’ve compared plenty of players to runaway trains because of their sheer mass and strength, but Zion Williamson’s speed comes closer to matching one than anyone at his size except perhaps LeBron James and prime Charles Barkley. His quickness, ball-handling and highlight dunks are going to engulf NBA Twitter on a nightly basis, which is why he singlehandedly elevates the Pelicans to must-watch League Pass territory even without all the other interesting guys on the roster.