New Orleans Pelicans phenom Zion Williamson has opened up on the Rookie of the Year race. According to the 19-year-old, he has no problem whatsoever if Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant ends up bagging the title over him.
Zion on the Rookie of the Year race — or lack thereof. "My goal was if I could rally my team to the playoffs, hopefully I could make a run for it. But it’s God’s plan at this point. If Ja wins it, I’m going to be happy for Ja."
— Christian Clark (@cclark_13) April 27, 2020
Williamson has had a tremendous impact for the Pelicans since he made his debut late in the 2019-20 season. He missed the first few months of the campaign due to an injured knee.
Prior to the season being suspended, Zion was averaging 23.6 points (on 58.9 percent shooting), 6.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 29.7 minutes per contest. However, he just played in 19 games, with the Pelicans going 10-9 during that stretch.
Despite taking the league by storm, however, Zion Williamson just hasn't played enough games to be able to force himself in the running for the ROY award. That would be simply unfair to Ja Morant, who himself has been amazing in his rookie campaign.
The second overall pick of the 2019 draft was putting up 17.6 points (on 49.1 percent from the field), 3.5 rebounds and 6.9 assists prior to play being stopped. Morant is presently the runaway leader for this season's Rookie of the Year trophy.
To recall, a similar instance went down some years ago with Joel Embiid. The Philadelphia 76ers star played just 31 games in his rookie year, and while he was extremely impressive, the league ended up giving the ROY award to then-Milwaukee Bucks guard Malcolm Brogdon.
Williamson hasn't even hit 20 games this season, so if this campaign gets canceled altogether, then it would be a travesty if the NBA picks the Pelicans rising start over Morant.
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