Coach of the Dallas Mavericks Rick Carlisle compared Zion Williamson to Shaquille O’Neal following the Dallas Mavericks’ 112-103 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans. Williamson scored 38 points on 13-of-20 shooting, while adding six rebounds and five assists in a dominating performance in the paint. Many analysts are making the comparison to Shaq how dominate Williamson is in the painted area, missing very little shots and currently shooting 62% percent on the season. Williamson also became the first player since O’Neal in 1995-96 to have four straight games of scoring at least 25 points with over 65% shooting percentage. Just look at this Twitter post by StatMuse on how efficient he’s actually playing this season.

For someone who’s only listed at 6’7 being compared to one of the most dominating forces ever to play this game is a compliment, so far Zion has taken the NBA by storm but can he put on the show consistently and win like O’Neal did.
Rick Carlisle had plenty to say about the second year forward out of Duke when the Dallas Mavericks lost to the New Orleans Pelicans.

“He’s an unusual force and obviously a great player … it presents huge challenges for the defense and for officials. He is just creating collisions out there. This is a Shaquille O’Neal-type force of nature with a point guard skill set,” said Carlisle.

Zion has plenty to improve on as a player and that’s the scary thing. Being only 20 years old means he has plenty of time to work on his weaknesses unlike O’Neal who couldn’t consistently hit a free-throw his whole career.

Shares:

Drop a Reply