After months of waiting, the Zion Williamson era in New Orleans is finally about to begin on Wednesday night, as the No. 1 overall draft pick returns from a knee injury to make his NBA debut at home against the San Antonio Spurs (9:30 p.m. ET, ESPN). Williamson will reportedly not have a minutes limit, but it seems likely that Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry will ease Williamson into the season after he missed 44 games due to injury.
How will Zion perform in his debut? Williamson came into the league with unbelievable expectations, but given his injury history, remaining healthy and on the court may outweighs his production as a priority for the rest of his rookie season.
To get an idea of how budding superstars fare in their very first NBA games, we went back and checked the stats of 12 current and former NBA stars. We’ll start with the two players that Williamson has been compared to most often, Charles Barkley and Blake Griffin.
Charles Barkley
Date: October 10th, 1984 vs. Cleveland
Stats: 27 minutes played, 3/6 FG, 5/6 FT, 11 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steak, 1 block, 5 turnovers
Blake Griffin
Date: October 27th, 2010 vs. Portland
Stats: 38:36 minutes played, 8/14 FG, 4/6 FT, 20 points, 14 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers
Shaquille O’Neal
Date: November 6th, 1992 vs. Miami
Stats: 32 minutes played, 4/8 FG, 4/7 FT, 12 points, 18 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 3 blocks, 8 turnovers
LeBron James
Date: October 29th, 2003 vs. Sacramento
Stats: 42:50 minutes played, 12/20 FG, 1/3 FT, 25 points, 6 rebounds, 9 assists, 4 steals, 2 turnovers
Kevin Durant
Date: October 31st, 2007 vs. Denver
Stats: 31:34 minutes played, 7/22 FG, 2/4 FT, 18 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 steals, 1 block, 2 turnovers
Tim Duncan
Date: October 31st, 1997 vs. Denver
Stats: 35:30 minutes played, 6/9 FG, 3/5 FT, 15 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks, 4 turnovers
Kobe Bryant
Date: November 3rd, 1996 vs. Minnesota
Stats: 6:22 minutes played, 0/1 FG, 0 points, 1 rebound, 1 block, 1 turnover
Kevin Garnett
Date: November 3rd, 1995 vs. Sacramento
Stats: 16 minutes played, 4/4 FG, 8 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist
Karl Malone
Date: October 25th, 1985 vs. Houston
Stats: 24 minutes played, 4/11 FG, 0/2 FT, 8 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 4 steals, 4 turnovers
Luka Doncic
Date: October 17th, 2018 vs. Phoenix
Stats: 31:47 minutes played, 5/16 FG, 0/2 FT, 10 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 turnovers
Ja Morant
Date: October 23rd, 2019 vs. Miami
Stats: 25:09 minutes played, 6/12 FG, 2/4 FT, 14 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 6 turnovers
R.J. Barrett
Date: October 23rd, 2019 vs. San Antonio
Stats: 37:07 minutes played, 9/13 FG, 2/4 FT, 21 points, 5 rebounds 2 assists, 2 steals, 3 turnovers
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