If you're a basketball fan, you're likely familiar with the name Zion Williamson at this point.
The Duke Blue Devils freshman has taken the college basketball world by storm with his incredible vertical leap and gravity-defying dunks that render him impossible to guard in the lane. But recently, the 6-foot-7, 285-pound forward improved on the weakest aspect of his game, and it could very well make him the greatest prospect the NBA has ever seen.
Zion Williamson is suddenly knocking down threes.
In the Blue Devils' 87-65 rout of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons Tuesday night, the Spartanburg, South Carolina, native knocked down three of four three-point attempts en route to a career-high 30-point performance. Prior to Tuesday's contest, Williamson shot an abysmal 19% from beyond the arc.
His motivation — beyond improving his already sky-high NBA Draft stock — may have been to shift his reputation.
"I kind of hate being classified as a dunker," Williamson told ESPN's David M. Hale. "Coach [Mike Krzyzewski] wouldn't have recruited me if I was just a dunker. But I guess people on the outside don't understand that. I can't play to impress other people. I'm playing to get better for myself and my teammates and hopefully make a run for a national championship."
Williamson's certainly made a compelling case to be taken seriously all over the court this season. The 18-year-old has averaged 20.9 points, 9.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 2.2 steals, and 1.9 blocks per game through the first 14 contests of his collegiate career.
An anomaly in efficiency, Williamson shoots 67.9% from the field and, according to SB Nation, his 20.8 box score plus-minus is the highest of the decade, beating out the next-best BPM — belonging to one Anthony Davis — by a 2.1-point margin.
As if his 30-point performance against the Demon Deacons wasn't enough, Williamson added 10 rebounds, five assists, and four steals to join former LSU phenom and current Philadelphia 76ers star Ben Simmons as the only Division I players to record such a jam-packed stat line in the past 20 years.
"I have to work on every part [of my game]," Williamson told INSIDER after Duke's 69-58 win over No. 12 Texas Tech at Madison Square Garden December 20. "I feel like if I can become a huge threat from everywhere [on the court], there would be no stopping me."
Read more: Zion Williamson threw down a nasty 360 dunk that sent Duke fans into a frenzy
After the Blue Devils' early-season annihilation of the then-No. 2 Kentucky Wildcats, ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Bilas asked: "Zion Williamson... how do you guard him?!" With the development of a consistent three-point shot, it looks as though college basketball's brightest star has finally produced an answer: you can't.
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- Zion Williamson threw down a nasty 360 dunk that sent Duke fans into a frenzy
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- Zion Williamson has been surprising himself with how high he can jump ever since his first dunk in a game
