Zion Williamson is once again playing like a superstar. Though his scoring and efficiency are slightly lower this season, his game-breaking offensive ability has maintained. Williamson’s passing, especially, has popped as of late. With a career-high assist rate this season (24.3%) Zion leverages his deadly scoring to playmaker more than he ever has.
Williamson’s scoring gravity opens up enormous windows for him to pass through, as it always has. Defenses must load up on Zion’s drives as he’s nearly impossible to stop one-on-one consistently for all but the most elite defenders. Williamson slices up defenses from all over the court — he’s deadly kicking to shooters and laying down to cutters on his drives and throwing skip passes to the opposite side from the post. He’s especially deadly in transition where defenses wall up to stop him.
Let’s take a look at who Zion has assisted to most on the season (data via PivotFade):
CJ McCollum is Williamson’s most frequent target this season, capitalizing on his gravity more than any other Pelican. One of the league’s best off-ball scorers, McCollum’s elite pull-up shooting, handle and floater touch synergize with the defensive attention Zion brings. Take this next clip as an example: Boston’s whole defense shades to cover Zion, including McCollum’s defender. With Derrick White slightly out of position, McCollum has all of the space he needs to knife into the lane and score.
While Williamson thrives as an on-ball playmaker, he’s functioned smoothly as an off-ball passer working within the flow of New Orleans’ offense. The processing speed is snappy. When Zion dives to the rim as a cutter, defenses slide to slow him down. He’s been quick to get the ball out of his hands, making extra passes to shooters on the wing for open shots.
As I’ve written before, Zion’s passing chemistry with Brandon Ingram stands out when the Pelicans run their two stars in the same actions. Williamson’s third most frequent assist target this season eats off of kick outs and handoffs. Especially on those handoffs, dropping bigs are reluctant to leave the paint, fearing Zion’s drives, opening up the mid-range jumper for Ingram.
Superstars adapt to their current situation. That’s what Zion Williamson is doing this season as the Pelicans offense becomes more egalitarian than it’s ever been in the Zion era. It’s a testament to Williamson’s mentality that he’s taken on a higher volume passing this role and is succeeding, creating great shots for his teammates every night.
Analysis by Ben Pfeifer
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