After a promising first season in which he was named to the All-NBA Rookie First Team, Zion Williamson of the New Orleans Pelicans has “made the leap” that’s expected of a No. 1 overall pick in the NBA. However, on Monday night, the 20-year-old power forward got rejected at the rim by Paul George of the LA Clippers – something that rarely happens to the seemingly unstoppable second-year big man.
Paul George with the block on Zion! pic.twitter.com/OZfLlpLajO
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) April 27, 2021
Williamson himself seems quite shocked over his shot being swatted away, but the culprit should be less surprising to the former Duke Blue Devil. Paul George is perhaps having the best season of his career this year at age 30. He’s long been regarded as an extremely versatile and gifted defender.
A four-time All-Defensive Team member, George led the NBA in steals per game just seasons ago with 2.2 per game. He’s 13th among active players in steals with 1195, which has also cracked the top 100 in NBA history.
Williamson, for his part, is having one of the best-ever second seasons in NBA history, statistically. The big man is averaging a stupendous 27.0 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 3.6 assists to go along with 0.9 steals and 0.7 blocks per contest.
He’s doing all this with a 29.8 percent usage rate, which is top-20 in the league. He’s fifth in the NBA with 8.1 win shares on the season, doubly impressive considering the Pels only have 26 wins.
Those 26 wins give New Orleans a 26-34 record, which is a substantial 4.5 games back of the 10th seed in the West – is the cut-off for the play-in phase. Zion will have to work hard the rest of the season to drag his team to the next stage.
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