It was hailed as a transformational draft, at least the very top of it.
Everybody was sold on Zion Williamson. Sold on him the way they’re sold on Victor Wembanyama. The idea, pushed and dragged on national television, that Wembanyama is “the most hyped rookie since LeBron James” is false. It was the same for Zion.
I remember seeing Williamson at the Garden with Duke, then at Summer League before an injury and a literal earthquake cut short his debut in Las Vegas, then in Harlem at the Milbank Community Center for a Nike event. People were captivated. He was a must-see, a force of nature and a physical phenomenon in a different way, but nonetheless as mystical as Wembanyama.
The problem is he went to New Orleans, the abyss of the NBA. He’s also not very comfortable, nor confident, in front of a microphone, sapping his marketability.
