Experts at ESPN recently teamed up to vote on their favorites to win several of the NBA's prestigious awards in the 2019-20 season. Amid their deliberations, the analysts projected that Zion Williamson will claim the 2019-20 Rookie of the Year award.

Via ESPN:

1. Zion Williamson | New Orleans Pelicans: 143 points (72.7% first-place votes)

2. Ja Morant | Memphis Grizzlies: 88 points (18.2% first-place votes)

3. RJ Barrett | New York Knicks: 53 points (9.1% first-place votes)

4. Darius Garland | Cleveland Cavaliers: 5 points

5. Coby White | Chicago Bulls: 4 points

The Pelicans selected Williamson with the No. 1 overall pick in this year's draft. By most accounts, the 19-year-old is a franchise-changing sort of player, and expectations for his debut season with the Pelicans are running high.

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Though he only spent one collegiate season with the Duke Blue Devils, it quickly became clear that Williamson had NBA-level talent. At 6-7 and 285 pounds, he is simply tough to deal with on the block. He's more than just a big body, though. He also has superb defensive prowess, a keen passing eye and a strong dunk hand.

In 33 appearances with the Blue Devils (all starts), Williamson racked up averages of 22.6 points on 68.0 percent shooting from the field (33.8 percent from beyond the arc), 8.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 2.1 steals and 1.8 blocks in 30.0 minutes per outing.

New Orleans finished the 2018-19 season with a 33-49 overall record, which left the team out of playoff contention. In the coming season, however, Williamson and the Pelicans will be looking to get back into the hunt.