Zion Williamson says he initially decided to go back to Duke: ‘Nobody ever believes me’

What could have been.

Zion Williamson arrived at Duke last season with the expectation of spending one year in Durham before declaring for the NBA Draft. That was exactly how it played out for the now-Pelicans rookie. But when it came time to make that long-expected decision, it wasn’t nearly as easy as most would have thought.

Zion was ready to return to Duke for his sophomore season.

In an appearance on The J.J. Redick Podcast, Williamson explained to his Pelicans teammate that he genuinely wanted to go back to Duke for a second year and that nobody ever believes him when he says that. According to Zion, it took urging from his mom, stepdad and Coach K to get him to make the jump to the NBA.

Zion said:

“It was like the deadline. I think at the deadline when you had to declare, you had to say, ‘All right, what are you gonna do? Declare or not?’ Me, I wanted to go back, Nobody ever believes me, they think I’m just saying that. But no, I genuinely wanted to go back. I felt like the NBA wasn’t going anywhere. You know, the money thing — that’s money. I don’t play this for money. I play because I genuinely love the game. I just loved my experience at Duke that much where I wanted to stay.

“But it was one of those situations where Coach K’s not gonna let me come back because he wants me to do what’s best for the family. My teammates are saying, ‘Man, that would be dope if you come back.’ But at the same time, they’re telling me I would be leaving too much. I did the work this long to get to that. It was tough. At the end of the day, I think it was kinda my mom. She said she was gonna support me whatever I do, so I was like, ‘All right, I’m going back.’ And then I think her and my stepdad talked about it, and they were like, ‘You worked too hard to get to this moment. You’d feel bad if you left it.'”

After that discussion with his parents, Zion said that he ultimately realized he had worked for the opportunity to play in the NBA and couldn’t pass up the chance. Even as post-lottery rumors emerged about a possible return to Duke, Williamson remained committed to the draft and the eventual landing spot in New Orleans.

But could you imagine if he had stayed at Duke?

The Blue Devils are already 13-1 and ranked No. 2 without Zion. That one loss was by two points against Stephen F. Austin. We’ll never know what could have been, but it’s fun to think about.

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