Will Zion Williamson return to Duke instead of staying in NBA Draft? Let’s look at his quotes.

The 2019 NBA Draft won’t happen for another month or so, but the NBA Draft Lottery essentially determined where Zion Williamson will be drafted.

That’s because 1) the Duke and Youtube phenom is slated as the consensus #1 pick by every NBA Draft expert and 2) the NBA Draft Lottery was won by the New Orleans Pelicans.

With all the pre-Lottery Draft talk that Williamson may end up in New York because the NBA’s largest market had one of the highest odds to end up with the #1 pick, all the hype built up to the announcement ended up being severely anti-climactic when the Pelicans won the pick. And that led a lot of the talking heads in the media to speculate that Williamson has other choices than to sign with New Orleans.

Will Zion Return to Duke?

So would Zion Williamson return to Duke because he didn’t want to play in New Orleans? Let’s look at what the 18-year has told the media. He didn’t help to douse the rumors with one of his quotes taken out of context.

“I mean this 100% when I say it. If I could come back for a second year and play, I would.” Zion recently told SLAM Magazine in their latest feature story.

Based on that, sound like if it were up to Zion, that he would go back to Duke in a heartbeat. Well, playing devil’s advocate, it is technically up to you, Zion, but let’s look at the other side of the quote.

“Being at Duke was a dream come true for me,” he continued, “It was the best year of my life, unfortunately that’s not the reality we live in. The reality we live in is I had this dream since I was a kid and I had to purse that, and also I have to take care of my family.”

Clearly, we were just being unnecessarily technical and literal with the first sentence words. We’re well aware that Zion isn’t making a decision in a bubble. He understands there’s others that rely on him and that the risk of going back to college wouldn’t result in him getting drafted higher than he would on June 20, 2019.

So with all that said, there’s no way that Zion will return to Duke instead of staying in the NBA draft. We all see his highlights and instagram videos, but behind all that is a smart, thoughtful and caring kid that understands the bigger picture past his needs and wants. he obviously understands what it means to live up to one’s commitment.

That’s all proven out by his quotes and actions above. We’re definitely seeing Zion Williamson drafted with the number one pick and in an NBA jersey next season.

As for what NBA jersey, there’s those that still aren’t so sure it’ll be with the New Orleans Pelicans.

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