Zion Williamson received a different kind of honor in New Orleans

An aquarium in New Orleans honored the No. 1 overall pick after his generous decision to cover the salaries of arena workers for 30 days.

Move over, Zion Williamson. There is a new Zion in town.

The city of New Orleans just welcomed the addition of another Zion to the family after the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas announced on Tuesday that they named an African penguin after the Pelicans rookie.

The aquarium chose to name the penguin chick after Williamson following his generous decision to cover the salaries for those who work at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans for 30 days.

“In this time of uncertainty, Zion embraced the New Orleans community with a truly remarkable act of generosity after the NBA season halted,” the aquarium posted on Instagram.

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Egg-citing news! An absolutely adorable African penguin chick named Zion hatched at Audubon Aquarium of the Americas on February 17, 2020, after a 39-day incubation period. 🐧 We chose the name Zion in honor of @pelicansnba rookie @ZionWilliamson. In this time of uncertainty, Zion embraced the New Orleans community with a truly remarkable act of generosity after NBA season halted. Zion is the offspring of penguin pair Hubig (mother) and Ocio (father). After spending approximately 11 days being raised with its parents, as sometimes happens, it needed to be removed and taken under human care. This is a very time-consuming process for animal care staff and is a testament to their dedication, especially right now since we are closed, and only essential staff are on site taking such great care of the animals. The African penguins at the Aquarium serve as ambassadors, teaching guests about the plight of this species in the wild due to human-wildlife conflict. We are proud to be able to contribute to the African Penguin @zoos_aquariums Species Survival Plan, and we hope to continue our breeding success year after year. #SavingSpecies #ClosedButStillCaring

A post shared by Audubon Nature Institute (@auduboninstitute) on

With the NBA season shut down until further notice due to the coronavirus pandemic, players and teams across the league have joined together to help provide assistance for those that may be affected by the loss of income at this time.

The initial hiatus was expected to last at least 30 days but NBA teams are bracing for the possibility of resuming play in June at the earliest. NBA commissioner Adam Silver said the league will look at all possible options to resume the season.

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