Zion Williamson Is The Most Influential College Player Of All Time

Duke sensation, Zion Williamson, has been the vocal point in discussions recently with his injury against UNC. Zion flew out of his shoe in 30 seconds of the game, thankfully the injury is minor as it's a day-to-day knee sprain. Williamson is the projected 1st overall pick whose been blowing up social media pages since he was in high school. Zion's impact on and off the court is incredible and should be talked about more.

Zion's impact on the court is extremely obvious, as he's the 2nd leading scorer at Duke with 21.6 points per game. Zion will get you the points that can not be measured as he will get the dunks that will either drain the team or give Duke the momentum they need. Zion leads the team in rebounding at 8.8 rebounds, he also leads the teams in steals and blocks. Zion does a little bit of everything for Duke and without him being in the games it shows how much he is missed. Against UNC, Duke couldn't find someone to step up and become the 3rd scoring option for Duke. They missed Williamson's scoring, defense and just his overall presence on the court. Zion's presence on the court is something that can not be measured as he's someone who you have to pay attention to and if you don't then he's going to do something incredible. He will beat you off the dribble or just go right above you. He's very strong and at 285 pounds he's a force to be moved.

His presence off the court is very influential, as he is arguably more influential as a college player than most NBA players. The starter is that since Zion got hurt it brought back the most highly debated question in college sports, should college athletes be paid? Currently the age to enter the NBA is 19 years old and you have to have a year outside of high school, so a year in the pros overseas, G-league or college. After Zion's injury, the NBA officially submitted a proposal to the NBA players association to lower the age to 18. This would mean that athletes could enter the league straight out of high school. If this proposal is approved the 2022 NBA draft will have high schoolers in it. This proposal won't be in effect until 2022 so teams can have ample time to prepare themselves for this change and plan ahead for this. Players like Zion Williamson and Ben Simmons waste a year in college, it is evident throughout their year in college that this is a waste of a year. Ben Simmons practically quit and didn't care at all about college halfway through that season.

The day after Zion's shoes broke Nike's stock dropped by more than 1%. Nike also had to deal with an angry Paul George. Zion got hurt playing in Paul George's shoes and he called them up the next day to figure out what went wrong. It is never a good sign when the best player in the nation gets hurt in your shoes and the demand of them will drop. This shoe ripping could ultimately lead to Zion signing to another shoe brand and Nike would face the ultimate price for it. Duke is currently sponsored by Nike and that's what the players play in. It is easier for Nike to now sign Zion to them for a shoe deal and get him a pair of his own signature shoes.

Ticket prices are through the roof to see Zion and Duke play this year. According to Michael Sauter, Duke has the highest prices tickets in the nation. on average being $198.02. Against UNC the average ticket resale price on SeatGeek was 3,296, one fan even paid $10,000 for his ticket. Tickets to see Duke were almost at the price of Super Bowl tickets. They had celebrities like Obama, Spike Lee, and Todd Gurley were all at the game.

Almost every single one of Duke's games are on National Tv. Zion has made Duke must watch tv, non-Duke fans and Duke fans are tuning into the games to see Zion play. When Zion dunks, social media goes insane with the video and it is shown all over sports networks around the world. When Zion was in high school his mixtapes on Youtube would get millions of views.

Zion was a celebrity even in high school, with everyone waiting for him to get into college. He is one of the most highly talked about high schoolers since LeBron James. Drake even wore Zion's jersey on stage while he was in high school.

Zion Williamson is all over every sports programing with talks of him. He is the most influential college player we have seen in a long time, and when he joins the NBA his games will be must see TV. He is one of the most highly regarded player coming into the league, since Anthony Davis. He will go 1st overall and his influence around the league will be heard.