Ranking Banchero’s rookie season among the five most recent No. 1 picks
By Rowan Kent
1. Zion Williamson, 2019 New Orleans Pelicans
Yes, Zion only played 24 games in his rookie year. Yes, he didn’t set foot onto an NBA court until it was late January. Yes, he didn’t end up winning the NBA Rookie of the Year award.
None of that matters in determining the best #1 pick of the past five years.
What Zion did in a little more than a fourth of an NBA season is otherworldly. He was an immediate mismatch nightmare on offense, just like he was at every level of play before him, and ranked second and third respectively for the Pelicans with averages of 22.5 points and 6.3 rebounds.
That’s even more impressive once you factor in his 58% shooting from the field, a ludicrous number that few rookies have ever touched. Simply put, when your rookie year is comparable to Michael Jordan, you’re a rookie phenom:
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Criticism over his health and defense are fair arguments to make, but they miss the point. Rookies in the NBA are hardly ever finished products and only somewhat flash their ultimate ceiling as players. For as little practice time, conditioning, and strength training Zion got as a pro, it’s even more impressive that he looked like one of the most dangerous interior weapons in the entire NBA.
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Williamson’s health has betrayed him, as he’s missed a year with a broken foot and has been sidelined for much of the 2022-2023 season with a bum hamstring, but when evaluating top picks as rookies, there’s no debate: hands down, Zion Williamson was an immediate star level talent as a 19-year-old rookie and has only built upon the monstrous flashes he showed every night on NBA courts.