Face of Nation : LAS VEGAS — The Zion Williamson show came to Las Vegas, and it did not disappoint. At least not in the limited minutes he played.
Williamson’s first made shot was – you guessed it – a dunk.
His next three baskets were dunks, too, and the power game Williamson showed in his one season at Duke in 2018-19 was on display in the first quarter of his first NBA Summer League game.
The New Orleans Pelicans rookie, the No. 1 overall pick in last month’s draft, had 11 points, three rebounds and one steal in his much-anticipated summer debut. All his made shots were dunks, and he was 3-for-6 at the foul line.
He played just 9 minutes and 10 seconds. He took a knee-to-knee hit in the second quarter, and the Pelicans did not play him for the rest of the game for precautionary reasons.
But he created an electric environment, surpassing the excitement for the Lonzo Ball-Jayson Tatum showdown on the opening day of the Las Vegas Summer League two years ago. It was a Day 1 sellout with most fans packing the Thomas & Mack Center to watch the Pelicans and Williamson play the New York Knicks and RJ Barrett, the No. 3 overall pick in the draft.
It was a star-studded event in the courtside seats to watch the show. LeBron James sat next to Los Angeles Lakers teammate-in-waiting Anthony Davis. DeMar DeRozan sat two seats down from James. Collin Sexton, Buddy Hield, and Trae Young sat next to each other. Memphis teammates Ja Morant, the No. 2 pick, and Jaren Jackson Jr., who made the 2018-19 All-Rookie team, were in attendance. Ball and Brandon Ingram were also in attendance.
An earthquake in California but felt in Las Vegas delayed the game with 7:53 left in the fourth quarter. Play for the night was postponed as a precaution.
Williamson put on a show before the game began with pregame dunks in the layup line. On the Pelicans’ first offensive possession, they ran an alley-oop play for Williamson, but he was fouled before he had a chance to catch the basketball and dunk it.
He got his first dunk after posting up, then proceeded to get two more dunks in the next minute and a half.
Williamson didn’t have a perfect game. He missed five shots, including two 3-pointers, and Knicks second-year big man Mitchell Robinson blocked a Williamson shot and hustled in transition for an uncontested dunk.
Early in the third quarter, fans chanted, “We want Zion, we want Zion” unaware of the knee-to-knee contact.
