30 Awe-Inspiring Facts About Zion Williamson You Probably Didn’t Know Before

Zion Williamson is just 20 years old, and is already one of the most covered NBA players in history. In fact, he made headlights, even before playing an NBA regular season game. With his unbelievable dunking ability, he is quickly becoming one of the most influential figures for young basketball players. Here are some interesting facts about him that will make you love him more:

"File:RJ Barrett & Zion Williamson - Keenan Hairston (cropped).jpg" by Keenan Hairston from Raleigh is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

1.  During the suspension of the 2019-20 NBA season, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he pledged to pay for the salaries of all the employees of the Smoothie King Center for 30 days, on March 13, 2020.
2.  He finished the February 12, 2021 game against Dallas Mavericks, on 14/15 shooting, with which he became the youngest player in the history of NBA, with 30 points on 90 percent shooting.
3.  He signed a five year shoe deal with Jordan brand, for $75 million, on July 23, 2019, which is the second-largest rookie shoe deal in history, only after LeBron James’s $90 million deal in 2003.
4.  He developed the ability to dunk, when he was practicing in the school gym at the Spartanburg Day School, in the summer leading up to his first season.
5.  In his junior season, he was among 50 players selected to the Naismith Prep Player of the Year Award watch list, and averaged 36.8 points, 13 rebounds, 3 steals, and 2.5 blocks per game.
6.  Zion Lateef Williamson was born on July 6, 2000, to Lateef Williamson and Sharonda Sampson in Salisbury, North Carolina.
7.  He was named as Zion, after the biblical location Mount Zion near Jerusalem, by his mother Sharonda, taking into his great-grandmother’s advice – “to name him something extra special.”
8.  His father Lateef Williamson was a defensive lineman who played at Mayo High School in Darlington, South Carolina, as well as in college levels.
9.  In the year 1993, his father was a High School All-American, committing to NC State, before he transferred to Livingstone College.
10.  His mother Sharonda, was a sprinter during her time at the Livingstone College. She later became a middle school health and physical education teacher.

"File:Zion Williamson - Keenan Hairston (cropped).jpg" by Keenan Hairston from Raleigh is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

11.  His family moved to Florence, South Carolina, after the demise of his maternal grandmother, when he was just 2 years old.
12.  Lateef and Sharonda got divorced when he was just five years old, and he subsequently moved with his mother, who married Lee Anderson.
13.  His stepfather Lee Anderson was a former Clemson college basketball player, who had been an important early influence on Zion.
14.  Zion, right at the early age of 5, decided that he wants to become a college basketball star, and by the age of 9, began training every morning at 5 A. M.
15.  With his mother Sharonda coaching him, he began participating in youth leagues, and even played for the Sumter Falcons on the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) circuit.
16.  Zion began training with his stepfather, in an effort to improve his ball-handling and point guard skills, and subsequently joined the basketball team at Johnakin Middle School in Marion, South Carolina.
17.  Talking about the time, he started training, his stepfather Anderson told in an interview with USA Today that “right from day one, he was trained to be a guard, and that’s why he is so versatile now.”
18.  During his time in middle school, he played as a point guard, and had lost only three games in a span of two years, and even helped Johnakin to an 8-1 record and a conference title.
19.  He has a little step-brother Noah Anderson, whom he adores. He once claimed in an interview that he and his brother, despite the age gap, go out together and play basketball with each other.
20.  Williamson led the Griffins to their first South Carolina Independent School Association (SCISA) Region I-2A title in program history. He was also named as the SCISA Region I-2A Player of the Year.

"File:Zion Williamson and Kevin Love (49488363862).jpg" by Erik Drost is licensed under CC BY 2.0

21.  As a freshman, he averaged 24.4 points, 9.4 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 3.3 steals and 3.0 blocks, earning All-State and All-Region honors.
22.  Wofford was the first to offer him college basketball scholarship, when he was a freshman in high school, which was followed by Clemson, Florida and Duke. On Jnaury 20, 2018, Williamson committed to Duke.
23.  Since his time in the Spartanburg Day School, he has been dating Tiana White, maintaining a long-distance relationship, as White is attending Wofford College. However, it is not clear if the couple are still dating each other.
24.  During a game against Florida Sate on January 12, 2019, he was poked in the left eye by an opposing player, towards the second half of the game, following which he missed the remainder of the game.
25.  He suffered a Grade 1 knee sprain, just 36 seconds into the February 20, 2019 game versus North Carolina, after his foot ripped through his Nike shoe, causing him to slip, after which he missed the rest of the game.
26.  Immediately after, Nike suffered the value of its stock drop by $1.1 billion, because of this incident. The next day he received several calls requesting him to stop playing basketball at college level, having established himself as the top 2019 NBA draft prospect.
27.  Williamson was drafted by New Orleans Pelicans with the first pick in the 2019 NBA draft, following which he officially signed with the Pelicans on July 1, 2019.
28.  He became the first teenager in the history of NBA to have scored 20+ points in 10 consecutive games right in his debut game on January 22, 2020 against San Antonio Spurs.
29.  He played for just 18 minutes and finished with 22 points and 7 rebounds, scoring 17 consecutive points in 3:08 minutes during the fourth quarter of the game.
30.  Williamson became the first rookie since Michael Jordan to have posted 16 20-point games within their first 20 contests. He also logged the highest scoring average through his first 24 career NBA games since Jordan in the year 1983.
31.  Zion Williamson Net Worth: $8 Million