Zion Williamson on His Injury Rehab, Duke Career, and NBA Transition | The Ringer

all right we are now joined by my pelicans teammate a lot of people know this guy zion williamson legend building legend in the building we were just talking but this is this is the first podcast you've ever done first one I feel like this is like a rookie duty that you're fulfilling for me like the vet asking the rookie to do something this is you coming on my pod alone I haven't done and what have I done I've not asked you to do anything right you have not Ike I think we have the easiest rookie duties out of the entire league what's he like as a teammate I think it depends on in what situation you axe um you know off the court you can learn a lot from I'm not BSA any answers off the court you can learn a lot from him through his 13 14 14 14 years of experience on the court you can see that he's been with great teams and he knows what it takes to win um I think the first serious moment I had with JJ was a first time in the locker room there's just me em he's like you know Z I'm 13 for 13 life don't [ __ ] I said what were the stories like did you ever get any Duke stories oh yeah did you hear degenerative stories about me to do yeah a lot of stuff you know good you know who you are I'm sure coach Kate said some good things about me Oh coach Kay said a lot of great things about you um you know Coach K way of saying was you know JJ reddick is a do did if you work hard you can make the league six for white guy I feel like he's kind of knocking my skill level honestly back to the rookie thing real quick first of all I feel like we as a team have not really made you guys do a lot of stuff there's no nothing ridiculous there's been no popcorn in anyone's cars nobody's wearing pink Hello Kitty bookbags right what is the what what is the one thing that me and the the commission of vets that we said has to be done what is the one thing I think the one thing I said it has to be done is the rookies just have to bring chick-fil-a onto the plane it'sa buddies have to bring chick-fil-a and now we're sick players I was very specific about the rules about chick-fil-a there it's only expected to be on the plane on a flyout day right either when we have practice or we're leaving New Orleans right maybe meet at the plane two o'clock practice playing at 1:00 whatever what happened today what happened today you know aiex the same question as soon as I walked into the plane everybody was already there I think I was the last one and I didn't see any chick-fil-a yeah I started looking at like we're all the rookie 6a already grows Mellie there's Jackson there's to kill a man there's I'm just kind of saying you know I'm a seal on the side like play it off see if like anybody notices and then I hear JJ you know what let's see when they get those per diems who's gonna have him I'm like you know I'm just kind of the per diems had already been passed out by the time I found out there was no chick-fil-a but the next trip next week I think everybody's pretty in for the trip is like $650 you multiply that by 4 that's $2,600 that's about a technical foul yep so I feel like that's a fair fine for this time missing the chick-fil-a chick-fil-a is also such an easy it's like an easy thing to do for the fine you can order on an app it's so easy to pick up so being that this is your first podcast do people I don't feel like people don't know a lot about you obviously the the basketball the dunking right they know that part of it what how would you describe yourself off the court how would you describe yourself I think I'm a goofy character who likes to have a lot of fun but I think I'm more mature then I act for my own age do you think do you think part of why you're mature is you were thrown into the spotlight at a young age I think that is a big reason why and then I think my parents just prepared me for you know the NBA all know it is a dream come true but you gotta understand being today it says to cutthroat League you you don't know what can happen yeah when when when you were like in the period was you a sophomore when like you're sort of clips started going everywhere and every like that I was a junior junior was there it was I was gonna ask this like was there a moment because like we I grew up where there was like Bob Gibbons and rankings and you know if you got really good you maybe make the McDonald's game but like there was no Instagram and there certainly shout out over time but there surely wasn't over time that was posting clips you could go access right it was there like a specific moment or game or clip where you were like oh I'm a big deal we saved my junior year I'm in this bet so small gym in Columbia South Carolina like you know one of those church gyms and I scored 47 points but nobody cared about that part it was the three or four like nasty dunks that I did that it's over Tom ball is life leave mixtapes famous lows all of them got their hands on and I went from this number 12 from Spartanburg day to the 16 year old it looks like a grown man yeah did you know like right when you got off the court that was happening or you like find out after the fact I think my friends people around me they kind of got more hyped for me it was yeah dude I was like watching cuz I'm in high school at a certain my junior year started off with 3,000 followers and the season uh as the season would go all the kids would look at my asking like dude you picked up like 6,000 followers in this like one class period that's crazy like and they were like tally how many I'd pick up and after a while it was like alright man it's just a stir gram like yeah relax what do you have right now around like 4.40 really do you so I mean I'm sort of interested in this like you were talking about because clearly just based off of everything you've done so far on and off the court you just carry yourself with the level of maturity and just like did you your parents aside like how do you I there's so many examples of kids who get sort of well known not even just in sports but in everything I kind of throws them off you know because like like I think about like myself when I was that age it's like I was like a [ __ ] and like I was never famous you know I really like there's just this so it's so easy to do when you're young kids so like how are you like how do you have the force had to be like okay it's just Instagram you don't I mean when so many kids it gets to them in either way like what do you think that was honestly I think is just social media I think so I think people allow social media to dictate their opinions more than they should and I mean I'm just playing a game I love I know people say it's a corny answer it's cheesy but I just Jani love basketball so as long as I get to do that I'm fine I remember when these clips started becoming viral and you know you every few days something right on ball is life or overtime you'd see it on Instagram house highlights would put something up Zion did this tonight or whatever and I remember thinking to myself like oh that's great but like can this guy actually play right and then you committed to Duke and I was a re probably is pretty good if you committed just but it's do you feel like I think Vince Carter used to talk about this early in his career but like you're known for like a singular athletic feat right the dunk right but there's so much more to you as a player does that ever bother you it's funny you said it actually did bother me a little bit I was like Jesus Christ like a piece of the other I have to get to the rim somehow yeah and it's part of the reason why I went to Duke you know Coach K Cain you mean he saw everything but the dunks he was like chignon said dumb stupid somebody cares but uh he saw every other part of my game that I wanted the world to see and I meant something to me I said on played for coach Reich she knows my game who knows how much value I bring to it so I think for Coach K to see that in me it meant a lot cuz the whole dunkey thing I was like like getting 50 points off straight dunks like ya just can't happen do you did you grow up a Duke fan we've kind of talked about this uh I'm going to always say I never was really like a fan of like no team but I did grow up like watching you Nolan Shire it was it was crazy because I was looking to kill I killed you you realize I did half of what JJ did but he just did it from beyond the arc I did it like layups like getting to the rim and stuff he did it all like thank you threes it was crazy did you you played a you with jaw right yeah I play with jaw when we were like nobodies my freshman year so summer in his sophomore summer how good was that team me and jaw we were like the role players I shot what we were the stars you guys are the number one to pick the draft we were at the role players but people don't know his own he it's a dude that goes to Ole Miss now devatas shooter like in South Carolina he was the guy I remember I used to play with them I'm playing uh pager but I'm watching I'm play like man this dude was just going coast to coast finishing pulling up transition three like he's curry like I'm just a ninth grader nobody knows who I am here he's like top 30 in the nation no just a certified bucket you know me and John just look at each other some songs like man came a long way yeah I know us oh so would you think the biggest switching from high school to Duke what do you think the biggest challenge was then I'm gonna ask obviously haven't played yet this year but just in terms of like preparation nothing like that for this as well the biggest transition from high school to Duke was the amount of talent I was surrounded by you know in high school if you're the guy like you can never be threatened we'll be pulling the bench it's just it's not gonna happen you know I got the Duke where our giant camera ring ranked in front of me and you know I'm like man these guys are early I'm looking at cam like cam your Tracy McGrady Penny Hardaway lights match ticket like cameras so cold and RJ like he was just the dog he was that dude and I'm looking at her like the other players like Trey Jack and javi you know he played for Coach K your role could change from high school to college obviously but he can make it in a way to wear somebody off the bench who you nobody knew about could come in and take your spot and he always made it like that and I think it always had people an edge to always stay prepared and be ready did he ever bent you did you ever had get benched for a duration period of time mine was during the summer oh boy there's some workout songs before your freshman year saying yeah yeah we were in summer practice with Duke and you know he has the white team and the blue team I was always with the white team was first I think it was like a week span when kind of put whenever we would scrimmage he'd go all right see you're on the blue team first why you know what I don't know second team yeah so but he did it for a reason he plays so he plays my game so well they he said I just wanted to bring the beast on you like he felt like I was holding back because I had other stars are on me and him putting me on the blue team really made me come out of my shell and attack those guys and always make my presence known on the court I was just saying just in general this has nothing to the Coach K but for for any like coach to tell you to switch your practice jersey color is literally the greatest mindfuck if you're on the second team you get switch to the first team you're like it existed I do something right and vice versa you're like Oh a my getting demoted like what is going on sometimes they just want to see a lineup combination that's all they want to see but especially like the summer such as such a sort of like high profile high hype summer and all of a sudden you're like oh well how has the the just the daily preparation as a pro how has that been because it's different obviously than high school college this is your only sort of thing you do this is your job and how is that daily preparation daily routine been for you and obviously it's been different because you're recovering from an injury um a little bit of time and you know watching everybody she's being around the league the preparation is completely different in college you know it's organized it's all right everybody we're gonna eat breakfast at this time we're gonna go to your auntie that's all we're going to stretch this that now you're in a situation of you get what you put out of it like I mean some guys like I watched AJ going away roaming stretch for 20-30 minutes and get activated other guys cuz I just sit there wait till game time and go alright let's go play um and it's different I think everybody has to find their what they need to learn about their body and once they do that the preparation is different on cuz now you're a pro you're held accountable this isn't alright you know like you go sleep in your dorm you know sleep over tonight come to practice it's not that it's different I will say that there's an autonomy that that happens you know that there's a you you eventually whether it happens your rookie year or for me it was like towards an in my second year definitely my third year was like you just sort of take ownership of that part of your job and you're saying no I this is what I'm gonna put into it every day regardless of what the outcome is regardless of what the result is this is what I'm gonna own and I'll live with the result after that and that's I mean I probably hit it a little earlier than most but that's only because I had you know really good vets like rashard showing me to do that how to do that everyday you know hopefully hopefully we'll get to that point man hopefully in 10 years when you have your own podcast you'll be your more popular podcast on us or just gonna be what's a normal road trip look like for you man now it's it's crazy rehab is harder in practice you know for me no more road trip I'll come in for practice I'll probably get in like hour early get stretched activated then I'll go do player development where I'm going and then we'll go watch like film like 70% of the time unless we have like a day off between the game then we'll go out onto the court and do today was my first day of practice but before that I would just kind of watch you know take day just go walk through some stuff and get up some jumpers you want to stay after you do that I get on it we get on the plane you know everybody's like all right like going to dinner want to go do this oh yeah joint you know Trajan or the training stuff come on Z we have like some work to do like I was just doing some some movement work because I had to get some movement work in or I'll get a lift in or I have to go to the arena later so lately it's been time-consuming it awful bad sometimes like my teammates watching you want to go to dinner I want to go but I'm not gonna say yeah cuz it might get up get off the plane and somebody might say we got to go do this well that's also to your point that's the difference between pros and eager when you're at this level it's like you got to do what the boss says I think we're doing this you got to go do it have you gotten to enjoy New Orleans New Orleans smart Connor City I think it's a lot going on but it's also very calm it's a place where I can actually like drive a car without being stuck in traffic for 4050 minutes but it's my kind of city a lot going on but still calm that's a pretty good description of it that's one of the reasons I love it like you have everything that you would love about like a smaller city but there's endless things to do yeah it's really it's a special JJ was dumping on the food scene earlier I was dumping on the food scene on the food scene and here's my hot tech I'll just explain it in a very short way by basically I said incredible food incredible restaurants I haven't had a lot of complete meals that I would say like oh that place is great everything there was good but I'll go to a restaurant and I'll eat four or five things and I'll say that one thing was the best version of that that I've ever had that one thing was just one of the best things I've ever eat but I don't mess I'm not gonna go back and order those same four things that's all I said that's how I said I agree I just agree I'll walk into a restaurant look at the menu like Drewry spot walk-ons you know you will expect it to be like a burger fries hot dogs and stuff the menu is like merciless seafood it has everything like you're like yo so this here like come on like yeah so it's like what does that restaurant sell everything what about that one everything it's just a matter of what you get that one time you go there so have you done the beignets yeah I have done the beignets um I thought um once delicious they're dangerous dangerous dangerous and the 24-hour thing is like not is really a problem because you're you say you're gonna once and all of a sudden it's it's 1:30 in the morning and you're hungry and they're just sitting there waiting would you agree that a beignet is a doughnut right we can all agree on that it's basically the same thing right then here's a doughnut okay yeah so for some I think I've talked to you about this before but every Sunday if I'm home with my kids we go get doughnuts they refuse to go get beignets so there's only one place they'll go which is like district donuts on Magazine Street we go every Sunday like every single Sunday were there they won't eat beignets that's weird it's just here a ball of fried dough with powdered sugar way what else the best donut in America is in Los Angeles streetcar streetcar Santa Monica we do on the trip I last somewhere in LA or do you come on that trip cuz I know I brought ok because I brought the streetcar Donuts in the plane because we stayed over Sunday night Monday morning I went brought him to the plane I'm bringing you guys I'm bringing you guys some tomorrow bringing them I have a question for both of you guys so this has affected you at when you were at Duke and in sort of different ways but design I was thinking about this the game I forget who was it was at the Carolina game where the game that Obama was at and you got hurt really really early on with the game yeah it was that game was sort of a crazy talk about like a regular season game which has an insane amount of hype but like one of the things that I was thinking about after that like you sort of became this this kind of flagpole it's like flagpole for people criticizing into delay and talking about how like oh why isn't he getting paid all these everything's like this and you're just you're just playing you're not involved so when that kind of thing happens are you are you paying attention to it to it are you blocking everything out like what's your where's your like head space my head space was kind of just you know at the time ignore it I'm there there's nothing I can do to change that immediately you know maybe now I can voice something you know eventually change but at the moment there's nothing I can do except just played a game I love it at the school I loved so was there any thought to shutting shutting it down after that no you know everybody kept telling me that next and I was like no I want to I want to try to go win a national championship like in the bond I built with those guys and those few - was was incredible I like I genuinely as a person like I would have felt bad if I I thought I would have felt selfish and I couldn't do that to myself or my teammates I I can't let y'all down like this alright I told him from the moment they started hearing it I'm coming back like ignore all that do you told me that you actually considered coming back for your sophomore year that was a thought you had which would have been the craziest thing ever has anybody done that in the last night maybe Duncan did it but nobody's done that in the last like 25 years I don't think anyone is wasn't gonna be the number one pick and then just like now I'm gonna do another year of college that I can't remember how many days did you say to yourself hey I might go back how many it was like it was like the deadline I think the deadline when you had to declare it you had to say alright what are you gonna do to clear or not me I wanted to go back nobody ever believes me they think I'm just saying that but no I didn't wanted to go back I felt like the NBA wasn't going anywhere you know the money thing that's money like I don't play this for money I play because I journey loved the game I just loved my experience he Duke that much where I wanted to stay but it was one of those situations where coach K is not gonna let me come back you know because he wants me to do what's best for the family you know my teenagers you know saying and I would be dope if you come back but same time you know they're telling me just I would be leaving too much you know I did work this long to get to that it was tough the end of the day I think it was kind of my mom you know she said she's gonna support whatever I do so I was like alright I'm going back and then you know 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 her so I said I did work for this as I was like four or five so let me done also we're leaving you know I feel like that makes it like RJ and gamma so that you guys were in a similar spot where you I mean not speaking with not speaking for them now but you know you're in that in this place where you guys accomplished a huge amount as freshmen but you also are now taking the jump and trying something new and being like how can we take the success we've had in college and like bring it to the next level I think it was just a matter of wherever we go we got to find our role yeah you know Coach K talks about role I learned a lot from everyone those few months it's actually crazy to me you know and my stepdad would always talk about finding your role I think once you find your role in excel in that then you'll be able to branch off into doing more things so that was our goal you know where we go find our role excel in it and that will allow us to have bigger roles now I don't did he ever use the the Broadway show he used analogy with you because that's the one he used to always use with us was like if you watch a Broadway show right it could be like the sixth most important lead right and they've got a star in their role that night the understudy right has to star in their role and then eventually like if you star in your role maybe you get the lead maybe or maybe you're you know you're on the marquee someday yeah like you you whatever your role is star in that role I thought that was great because like you come in as a freshman not maybe not you but like come as a freshman or you know maybe things aren't happening as quick as you want you come in as a rookie for me in the NBA it was like I had to figure out like in my role my first few years [ __ ] man it was very minimal I was the guy getting coffee for people who've you who have you been impressed by watching so far this year that like we surprised you that surprised me I would say each one more the first time I heard about each one was through our player development coach Brandon he goes you know I can't wait to a training camp it's gonna be this dude named each one it comes in a gym nobody no nobody thinks he can who he's a bucket and I was like alright I can't wait to meet each one sure enough that happened training training camp came each one came and a bucket and he's impressed me not only on court but off course you know he would probably I think he's out of span we didn't touch the floor for two or three games never bothered he was like you know I know my role I know what I can bring to the team when the team is ready they'll bring and he always stays ready I think that's why when he goes to the game he has the impact it has cuz he knows his role and he knows what he can bring to the table he is like legitimately a pro's Pro he is he is a professional and he's a professional bucket getter for sure for sure we want to be respect for your time I my last question to you is just you know mentally what it would has been the biggest challenge over these last eight to ten weeks as you're as you're doing your your recovery has it been the actual like monotony of rehab has it been not being able to play what would has been the biggest challenge I think the biggest challenge has been just a challenge of rehab you know tough it is just four hours you know watch people watching you like how you like land how you like bend when you do this motion and over and over like make sure that need us in cave in make sure it stays out make sure it's above the third toe make sure you're standing straight land like this even when I just got on the court it's still the same um you know when you here for so long it does bother you a bit but I think with the pelicans you know I have people around me just saying it's gonna pay off you know there's a reason why you're doing it you're gonna come back even better and I do feel that I feel my body does feel a lot better that's great well Zee thank you for being a good rookie and I look forward to actually being on the court with you it's gonna be a lot of fun man appreciate you [Music]

Channel: The Ringer

Views: 590,595

Rating: 4.9448209 out of 5

Keywords: zion williamson, new orleans pelicans, nba, zion williamson pelicans, zion williamson duke, zion williamson highlights, zion dunk, zion coach k, zion injury, zion williamson return, zion williamson interview, zion nba draft, zion duke, zion shoe, zion williamson obama, zion williamson top 10, zion williamson practice, zion williamson dunk, zion williamson injury, zion williamson nba, zion williamson nba highlights, jj redick, zion williamson podcast

Id: Vcw_R69jbJE

Length: 28min 39sec (1719 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 08 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/[deleted]]

Was his return talked about at all?

[u/nolahog]

Zion giving props to the GOAT: E'Twaun!!

[u/sixdayfall]

I know the rehab gets him antsy but I really hope he incorporates it as second nature. Can't all go out the window during a game.