Zion Williamson

Zion Lateef Williamson is an American professional basketball player in the NBA who plays as a power forward for the New Orleans Pelicans. Built like an NFL Linebacker with immense speed and athleticism, Zion dominates the competition in the NBA. He is a freak of nature. In high school, he was the number two prospect in his class and went viral due to his high flying dunks.

Early Life

Zion was born on July 6, 2000 in Salisbury, North Carolina. He attended Spartanburg Day School in Spartanburg, South Carolina where he would play out his highschool career. He was a highly recruited player coming out of highschool with many division one college teams trying to pick him up. On January 20, 2018, he committed to play for Duke under legendary coach Krzyzewski. He ended up having a dominant season for the Duke Blue Devils, picking up the Naismith National Player of the Year. After the end of the season, he declared for the 2019 NBA Draft.

NBA Journey

The New Orleans Pelicans selected Zion with the first overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft. During a preseason game, he tore his meniscus which caused him to miss the first 48 games of the season. But when he did play, he dominated the paint due to his grown man strength. He ended the 2019-2020 season in contention to win the NBA Rookie of the Year having just played 24 games and made it to the All-NBA Rookie First Team.

During the 2020-2021 season, Zion would stay healthy and play more than 80% percent of the regular season games. His play improved from his rookie season and it showed on the stat sheet. He would go on to earn his first NBA All-Star selection, which as projected should be the first of many.

Net Worth

According to Forbes, Zion’s net worth is around $27.3 million despite being only a two year NBA player. His current NBA contract will pay him $10,733,400 through the 2021-2022 NBA Season. Being a viral prospect coming out of college, many major brands were looking to sign him. He has a shoe deal with the Jordan Brand which will pay him $75 million over the next 7 years. His other major endorsements include Gatorade, Mountain Dew, and NBA2K.

Family



Zion was born in Salisbury, North Carolina to Lateef Williamson and Sharonda Sampson. His parents divorced when he was five, with his mother remarrying Lee Anderson. Noah Anderson is Zion’s step brother and is 6 years old.