The Brooklyn Nets open their season on Wednesday in a matchup against Zion Williamson and the New Orleans Pelicans. There's no denying that this is going to be a mouth-watering contest between a Nets team that is looking to turn a page on what has been a drama-filled summer, against a Pelicans squad that's hoping to make a statement early on.

For his part, Brooklyn superstar Kevin Durant had nothing but high praise for Zion. Ahead of their on-court matchup, KD expressed why he believes Williamson is truly a special talent (via Nick Friedell of ESPN):

“You've seen guys at that size, 6-7, that can get up and down the floor and move, but not at that level, though,” Durant said after Monday's practice. “You've seen guys like Jason Maxiell, I'm not saying they jump as high as Zion, but they were undersized guys that played bigger. And Zion's one of those guys. Rodney Rogers — I'm missing so many guys that were that tall at 6-6, Charles Barkley bruiser-type guys but played bigger. But Zion's athleticism trumps all of theirs by far. And when you add that to the mix, it makes him a one of one.”

It's hard to argue against Durant's statement here. After all, one could say that we've never seen anyone like Zion Williamson before.

Despite his high praise, however, KD is adamant that his Nets will be able to step up against their opponents come Wednesday night:

“Excitement,” Durant said of Williamson being back on the floor. “Athleticism. Somebody that can put up points pretty fast. It's a matchup problem for a lot of people, so we got our work cut out [with] him, and then you got two other scorers behind him [in Brandon Ingram and CJ McCollum] that can score from all levels. So we got our work cut out for us, but it's going to be exciting times when guys get healthy, especially the marquee guys in this league.”

There was some doubt as to Zion's health entering their season-opener against the Nets, but the Pelicans star was quick to shut all that talk down by declaring himself available for the highly-anticipated contest. Williamson has been waiting a very long time to return to the court, and he's finally going to get to do that on Wednesday against one of the top teams in the NBA no less.