Zion Williamson

Lateef Williamson was a football defensive lineman at Mayo High School in Darlington, South Carolina, who was a High School All-American in 1993 and had committed to NC State before transferring to Livingstone College.

Sampson was a sprinter at Livingstone and became a middle school health and physical education teacher.

She named Williamson after the biblical location Mount Zion near Jerusalem, taking her grandmother's advice to name him "something extra special."

When Williamson reached two years of age, following the death of his maternal grandmother, his family moved to Florence, South Carolina.

By the time he was five years old, his parents had divorced.

His mother later married Lee Anderson, a former Clemson college basketball player.

Williamson is Baptist.

Besides basketball, Williamson played soccer and the quarterback position in football.

When he was five years old, he set sights on becoming a college basketball star.

At age nine, Williamson began waking up every morning at 5 a.m. to train.

He competed in youth leagues with his mother Sharonda Sampson coaching and played for the Sumter Falcons on the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) circuit, facing opponents four years older than he was.

Williamson later began working with his stepfather to improve his skills as a point guard.

He joined the basketball team at Johnakin Middle School in Marion, South Carolina, where he was again coached by his mother and averaged 20 points per game.

In middle school, Williamson was a point guard and lost only three games in two years.

Zion Lateef Williamson (born July 6, 2000) is an American professional basketball player for the New Orleans Pelicans of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

He plays the power forward position.

On July 6, 2000, Williamson was born in Salisbury, North Carolina to Lateef Williamson and Sharonda Sampson.

In 2013, he guided Johnakin to an 8–1 record and a conference title.

Williamson attended Spartanburg Day School, a small K–12 private school in Spartanburg, South Carolina, where he played basketball for the Griffins.

Between eighth and ninth grade, he grew from 5ft 9in to 6ft 3in.

In the summer leading up to his first season, Williamson practiced in the school gym and developed the ability to dunk.

At the time, he competed for the South Carolina Hornets AAU team as well, where he was teammates with Ja Morant.

As a freshman, Williamson averaged 24.4 points, 9.4 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 3.3 steals and 3.0 blocks, earning All-State and All-Region honors.

He also led Spartanburg Day to a South Carolina Independent School Association (SCISA) state championship game appearance.

In March 2015, Williamson took part in the SCISA North-South All-Star Game in Sumter, South Carolina.

By his second year in high school, he stood 6ft 6in.

In his sophomore season, Williamson averaged 28.3 points, 10.4 rebounds, 3.9 blocks, and 2.7 steals per game and was named SCISA Region I-2A Player of the Year.

He led the Griffins to their first SCISA Region I-2A title in program history.

In June 2016, Williamson participated in the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) Top 100 camp and was its leading scorer.

In August, he won the Under Armour Elite 24 showcase dunk contest in New York City.

As a junior, Williamson averaged 36.8 points, 13 rebounds, 3 steals, and 2.5 blocks per game.

Born in Salisbury, North Carolina, Williamson attended Spartanburg Day School, where he was a consensus five-star recruit and was ranked among the top five players in the 2018 class.

He led his team to three straight state championships and earned South Carolina Mr. Basketball recognition in his senior season.

Williamson also left high school as a McDonald's All-American, runner-up for Mr. Basketball USA, and USA Today All-USA first team honoree.

In high school, he drew national attention for his slam dunks.

In his freshman and only season with Duke, Williamson was named ACC Player of the Year, ACC Athlete of the Year and ACC Rookie of the Year.

Following a freshman-year stint with the Duke Blue Devils, Williamson was selected by the Pelicans with the first overall pick in the 2019 NBA draft.

He set the single-game school scoring record for freshmen in January 2019, claimed ACC Rookie of the Week accolades five times, earned AP Player of the Year, Sporting News College Player of the Year recognition, and won the Wayman Tisdale Award.

He was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team in 2020.

In 2021, he became the fourth youngest NBA player to be selected to an All-Star game.