On Wednesday, two of the top, young players will square off on the court for the first time as Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks host Zion Williamson the New Orleans Pelicans.
The nationally-televised matchup at 9:30 p.m. ET on ESPN figures to be a highly-entertaining affair as Doncic has scored at least 20 points in each of his last 14 games while Williamson has accomplished that feat in 12 straight games.
Through 49 games played, Doncic is averaging 28.5 points, 9.3 rebounds, 8.8 assists and one steal per game. Meanwhile, Williamson is posting 24.2 points, 6.9 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game while he is shooting 58.8% from the field.
The game will also be the first such scenario in which Williamson will play in a back-to-back set after facing the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday night. The Pelicans initially indicated before Williamson debuted that they would be cautious in those situations but he has shown no lingering issues following knee surgery and is on track to play on Wednesday.
Combined together, Doncic and Williamson represent the future of the NBA and both have gotten off to tremendous starts in their careers. With the two set to play each other, we took a look at some of their unique accomplishments to this point, courtesy of the NBA.
Luka Doncic:
- He is the only player in the NBA to rank in the top 20 in points per game (No. 6), rebounds per game (No. 19) and assists per game (No.4).
- In January, he became the youngest player in NBA history to record a triple-double with at least 15 rebounds and 15 assists. That same game, he also became the youngest player in NBA history to record a triple-double with at least 17 assists.
- At the age of 21, he is already the Mavericks franchise leader in triple-doubles.
- In February, Doncic became the youngest European-born player to start an NBA All-Star Game.
Zion Williamson:
- He is the first player in the last 30 years to score at least 20 points in seven of his first nine games.
- Zion is currently on a streak of 12 consecutive games with at least 20 points, the most ever by an NBA teenager, surpassing Carmelo Anthony’s record (9) set in 2004.
- Zion is on pace to be one of two players in NBA history to average more than 24 points per game while playing fewer than 31 minutes per game. The other is reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo.
As LeBron James recently said, the NBA is in good hands with Doncic and Williamson leading the next generation of players and that matchup between the two stars on Wednesday figures to be one to look forward to for years to come.
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