Zion Williamson isn’t getting the same attention he had last year and that has been beneficial for the New Orleans Pelicans young star, who is having a terrific season with his team. The 20-year-old just earned the call for his first All-Star Game after his good performances in NOLA.
He’s demonstrated he is real and can be great in the association but not everybody is sold on his potential. In fact, one NBA analyst claimed that he hasn’t lived up to the hype in his first two seasons in the league. Ric Bucher recently joined FS1’s Undisputed to talk about the young player, blasting him for not providing what people were promised when they first heard about Williamson.
“What was Zion supposed to be from the very beginning? What was he advertised as? ‘THE NEXT LEBRON JAMES.’ That’s what I heard time after time, ‘he’s the next LeBron James!’, and I thought he’s NOT the next LeBron James. He doesn’t have the same game. Can he be dynamic? Can he be exciting? Can he sell tickets? Yes. Is he going to be the next LeBron James? NO, he doesn’t have that ‘bag’. The only reason we started this conversation today because he’s the youngest to ever make the All-Star Game. There is an argument to be made that he shouldn’t have even been an All-Star this year. When Magic was an All-Star for the first time he was on a Lakers team that won 60 games and won a championship. Kobe was on a team that won 62 games and went to the Western Conference Finals. LeBron was on a team that didn’t go to the playoffs and finished 42-40, but they were 30-21 at the All-Star break. The wins and losses DO matter. The impact on the game and the team as a whole DOES matter. While I love watching Zion play – and I think he is a freak in his own right, and I don’t think we have ever seen anything quite like him – has he lived up to the hype? HELL NO he hasn’t lived up the hype because he hasn’t come anywhere close to leading a team to success to those earlier guys he’s being compared to.”
"Zion was supposed to be the next LeBron James, so hell no he hasn't lived up to the hype!" — @RicBucher https://t.co/Ejk7dRBbUG
— FOX Sports (@FOXSports) February 25, 2021
You can say he hasn’t delivered as expected but Zion is doing impressive things this season, no doubt about it. The Pelican scored more points in his first 50 games than LeBron, Luka Doncic, and Joel Embiid. Zion has blossomed into the star people expected him to become and although he’s not getting the same attention he received last year, this player is doing his thing.
Perhaps Luka Doncic’s sophomore season set a new standard in the league but it’s worth noting that he was already a pro before entering the 2018 NBA draft. Zion just played one season in college before making the jump to the association. He’s walking at his own pace and that’s actually working for him, even if some people want him to lead a team to the postseason in his second NBA season.
