4 ways Zion Williamson can change the 2019-20 NBA season

Zion Williamson is back. The nation’s famously gigantic superteen makes one of the most anticipated NBA debuts in recent memory against the Spurs come Wednesday night. It’s hard to understate just how impactful the 19-year-old, 285-pound 6’6 explosive forward hybrid could be, even in his rookie season. Williamson’s expectations are in the realm of all-time greats like LeBron James.

Williamson isn’t just the dunking sensation his viral clips suggest, and we learned that after his dominant season at Duke. In 33 games, he averaged 23 points on an unbelievable 68 percent shooting, with nine rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocks per game. We saw that same production in the pros before he suffered a torn meniscus that kept him out of the season’s first three months. In four preseason NBA games, he scored 23 points on an even better 71 percent shooting with seven rebounds. He’s damn good all-around.

Williamson is joining the league even later than expected, but he could still make a cannon-ball sized splash in a relatively spice-less NBA season. Here’s how Williamson could change the scope of the league.

The NBA’s best rookie as of January is so clearly Morant that it’s insulting to debate otherwise. The Grizzlies weren’t expected to be much more than a rebuilding bunch, but Morant’s exceeded everyone’s expectations, launching his team into the No. 8 seed of the playoffs. He’s scoring 18 points with seven rebounds and four assists, shooting 49 percent from the field and 40 percent from distance. His only kind-of competition is the Heat’s Kendrick Nunn, who won’t pass him. But maybe Williamson will.

History isn’t on Williamson’s side as a rookie who’s only going to play, at most, 38 games. In 2017, the Rookie of the Year debate boiled down to Malcolm Brogdon — a good, but not elite-level talent — and Joel Embiid, a star who only played in 31 games. Brogdon won despite averaging just 10 points and four assists to Embiid’s 20 points, eight rebounds and three blocks. And Morant’s playing a whole lot better than Brogdon did with highlight plays to boot.

Williamson has a few factors on his side that Embiid didn’t, though, even if he is still a longshot. For one, Williamson didn’t sit out his first two years in the league. And secondly, he’ll be playing in the second half of the season unlike Embiid, whose performances were all in the beginning of his rookie season. Williamson’s highlights will flood our brains and provide a boost in recency bias.

On top of it all, though, Williamson has a narrative. The Pelicans are 17-27, 3.5 games behind Morant’s Grizzlies. If Williamson can match, or at least near his preseason numbers and earn the Pels a playoff spot over Morant, he’s going to be in the Rookie of the Year consideration. The table’s been set, and this chase has the potential to get spicier than Embiid vs. Brogdon.

In the bigger picture, nothing is more important to the league with Williamson’s return than what he can bring to a playoff hopeful Pelicans team. Ten games below .500, New Orleans has disappointed, but is still in range to earn a date with probably James’ Lakers in what could be one of the most fun and watchable first-round playoff series ever.

Getting there won’t be easy. A 3.5 game gap between the Pel’s No. 12 spot and the Grizzlies’ No. 8 is closable, though it also means a number of other teams (Spurs, Blazers and Suns) are also in the mix. And it won’t be easy to suddenly throw a high-usage engine like Williamson in with Jrue Holiday and a breakout star Brandon Ingram.

Where Williamson fits in New Orleans is all a guess until every rotation is given a chance. Will he play point-forward? Is he a slashing wing? Can he bring the ball up? Your guess is as good as any as Alvin Gentry tries to use a Thanos-sized adolescent onto the hardwood.

The immediate impact of this predicament will be felt locally, but its final outcome could be of league-wide interest. The Anthony Davis trade bore New Orleans a lot of talent, but no two more important pieces than Ingram, who’s launched towards stardom, and Ball, who’s waned in and out of brilliance. How will Williamson’s addition change them?

Williamson’s fit alongside those two stars isn’t apparent because we’ve never seen anyone like him before. To start, he does what either of those players do, but maybe even better. He’s a scoring machine who gets into the paint way easier than any 6’6 player should, and a freight train who gets down court with powerful strides, attracting enough attention to facilitate if he can’t slam the ball home on his own. Both sides of the ball should be designed with Williamson as its centerpiece.

Can Ingram and Ball be as important with him as they have been without? Do they even want to be?

In a perfect world, Ingram doesn’t need the ball in his hands as much to contribute to winning basketball, and Lonzo can use Williamson’s gravity to launch. Will this happen?

If the pieces don’t seem to mesh, New Orleans will have a lot of decisions on its hands. Of course it’ll only have ben half a season, but if Williamson-Ingram-Ball doesn’t work, which team tries to vulture one of the former Lakers away?

Williamson’s talents alone deserve primetime viewing TV slots, and adding Ball, Ingram and Holiday to the mix make it even more true. Williamson’s had millions of Instagram followers since high school. The appetite for thick linebacker-looking dudes jumping to the ceiling to slam home dunks is, unsurprisingly, plentiful.

Take a seat for now, Luka Doncic, LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo.

It’s Williamson’s time.