CLEVELAND — All eyes in the NBA were on the New Orleans Pelicans and Zion Williamson as the league's first overall pick made his regular season debut on Wednesday night against the San Antonio Spurs.
Zion did not disappoint.
In 18 minutes of action on the floor, Williamson scored 22 points on 8-11 shooting from the field, including 4-4 from 3-point range. He also grabbed seven rebounds and dished out three assists.
The Spurs went on to beat the Pelicans by the final of 121-117.
The highlight was a stretch of nearly three and a half minutes of action in the fourth quarter. Williamson scored a dazzling 17 straight points for New Orleans. According to ESPN's Stats and Info, Williamson's performance tied for the most points in a quarter in a player's 1st career game over the last 20 seasons.
A 6-foot-6, 284-pound forward, Williamson begins his NBA career as arguably the league's most highly touted rookie season LeBron James first suited up for Cleveland in 2003. In one season at Duke, the former 5-star prospect averaged 22.6 points on .680 percent shooting and 8.9 rebounds, all while filling social media and YouTube with a constant stream of highlight-reel worthy dunks.
Williamson's NBA debut had to wait until Wednesday because of a torn meniscus.
Just a friendly reminder: The Pelicans and Mr. Williamson are set to visit Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse on Tuesday, January 28 for a date with the Cavaliers. Tickets are still available!
After posting the second-worst record in the NBA last season, the Cavs entered the 2019 NBA Draft Lottery with hopes of landing the No. 1 overall pick in order to select Williamson. Instead, Cleveland saw its pick slide to No. 5, where it selected Vanderbilt point guard Darius Garland.