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There are some people who were born to play the game. They made their way into the world with the singular purpose of dominating the court. Two of these superstars that have dominated this year are Luka Doncic and Zion Williamson.
These boys have not only taken over the world by storm but also have had stories that seem to be fairy tales. These are full-scholarship division one players who are the captains of young America. These are the kinds of people Zion Williamson (18) and Luca Doncic (19) are.
Players for the big leagues are scouted out of millions of people who harbor the same dreams. These ones specifically were born in an age where there was a massive possibility for publicity via the internet. Now all these players do have unique origin stories and deserve buckets of respect as they have earned their way here, however, YouTube did give them an initial boost.
#1 Zion Williamson
Zion has an unbelievable story. He broke his wrist in freshman year on court in high school. He at that point was a towering 6'3" and 175 pounds and still had immense room for growth.
Since then in the next year, he gained 50 pounds and a little over three inches. Now he is bigger than many people in the NBA and is super athletic, but obviously, he had a long way to grow into what he has become today.
The first traced video for Williamson on YouTube was published in early 2015. Here he was choppy and did not have the game sense that is needed to play division one. He was great for his age, but needed to be better. His first fan-based mixtape came roughly a year later and this was the start of something brilliant.
Once Williamson stopped growing was when things started picking up. His growth pains had stifled his potential and the lack of pains led to unbelievable athleticism. Puberty really did him well.
So well, that people think he may even be the next LeBron. However, there is no other truth with Zion. He really has been the best ever since he was sixteen. The hype really is real and the expertise that those mixtapes showed was not a lie.
#2 Luca Doncic
Now, Luka has a different tale. His first publically available YouTube video dates back to even further, 2012, a still baby year for the platform. He was a part of a youth tournament in Barcelona.
Luka had just turned 13 and has literally the king of the court before he was in his double digits. unfortunately, his biggest reason to stand out was that he played for them in Madrid without knowing any Spanish.
Soon after, Luca was making triple-doubles and was a probably the most promise Slovenia had seen in a long time. There are little snippets of Luka's early career that you can see on YouTube that are an exact preface to who he is today, such as the ease with which he makes long-distance passes.
Even today, Doncic plays like a self-assured man, much like his mixtapes. he has a knack for the game, he knows how to turn up the heat and make sure that he, along with his team don't melt into it. Little has changed in his game and for all the right reasons.
Today, these two superstars are the start of a new All-Star generation in the NBA. A generation that isn't just known from the day they are drafted, but much before that. A generation that will encourage people to see that there is potential in hidden places.
