First overall pick Zion Williamson continues to impress during his late rookie year start. The New Orleans Pelicans power forward has only played in 11 games but is already making noise with 22.4 points and 7.2 assists per game. Even more impressive is that Williamson is doing this under a limited playing time average of 27.6 minutes. He further continued a historic 20+ point streak with 28 points on a 115-101 win against the Golden State Warriors.

When asked about Zion, Golden State’s head coach Steve Kerr compared the rookie to Charles Barkley. Kerr noted Barkley’s strength and explosiveness, and most notably, his tendency to be a “one-man wrecking crew.”

True enough, Sunday’s game saw a bully ball play by Williamson. The Pelicans forward used pure strength to follow his own miss by snatching the ball off of a supposed Warriors rebound.

The 19-year-old has even been impressive enough to catapult his way through Rookie of the Year talks, despite missing around half of the season.

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The loudest contender before Zion started playing, and even until now, had been second overall pick Ja Morant. The guard has surprised everyone and led the Grizzlies to a current .500 record and eighth spot. Memphis, however, is noted to have the hardest remaining schedule. They will have to muscle their way into maintaining or improving their record.

Meanwhile, the Pelicans have one of, if not the easiest schedule, even having played the 12-45 Warriors last. They are now only 3.5 games behind Memphis, and if they do skyrocket to playoff contention, their coveted rookie might even win Rookie of the Year.