The Pelicans have experienced new life thanks to the Zion Experience unfolding in New Orleans, as the Duke rookie continues to impress and surprise in many ways.
Recently, his prowess on the court was compared to Shawn Kemp of Seattle Supersonics fame, but despite the physical comparisons, Zion is actually in even more rarefied air at the moment.
Seven games into his career, Williamson has become the 20th player in history to score at least 14 points in each of his first nine career games, according to CBS Sports.
He’s averaging 21 points per game so far and has scored at least 20 points in seven of his first nine career games, which puts him in historic company.
Williamson is the only player over the last 30 seasons to accomplish the feat. Only Shaquille O’Neal and Grant Hill, who both notched 20 points seven times in their first 10 career games, have come close.
The last rookie to score at least 14 points in his first nine games was Dikembe Mutombo in 1991-1992; prior to that Michael Jordan and Patrick Ewing were the others to hit that mark.
Top 20 NBA Scoring Average Leaders of All-Time
While Zion has been impressive so far to say the least, he still has a long way to go if he wants to turn in a truly historical rookie season.
His 21.0 PPG currently has him running even with Carmelo Anthony, Alonzo Mourning, and Ralph Sampson among all-time rookie leaders. Tim Duncan averaged 21.1 in his rookie year while LeBron James hit the 20.9 mark — even more impressive company.
Despite that, none of those players cracked the top 20 scoring averages among rookies of all-time.
The top 20 list is as follows:
1. Wilt Chamberlain, 37.6 PPG
2. Walt Bellamy, 31.6
3. Oscar Robertson, 30.5
4. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 28.8
5. Elvin Hayes, 28.4
6. Michael Jordan, 28.2
7. Rick Barry, 25.7
8. Terry Dischinger, 25.5
9. Elgin Baylor, 24.9
10. Geoff Petrie, 24.8
11. Sidney Wicks, 24.5,
12. David Robinson, 24.3
13. Earl Monroe, 24.3
14. Walter Davis, 24.2
15. Bernard King, 24.2
16. Terry Cummings, 23.7
17. Allen Iverson, 23.5
18. Shaquille O’Neal, 23.4
19. Alex Groza, 23.4
20. “Pistol” Pete Maravich, 23.2
Of course, Williamson only has 28 games left on the season, which would equal out to less than half a year if he does stay healthy for all of them.
That being said, the potential is clearly there, and he can quiet many of the doubters simply by keeping up his current pace and finishing out the rest of the year on a strong note.
