Zion Williamson Stats: 5 Numbers That Highlight NBA Star's 2020 Rookie Of The Year Case

Zion Williamson put on a show in Tuesday night’s national TV appearance, scoring 29 points on 18 field-goal attempts in a road defeat against the Los Angeles Lakers. The No.1 overall draft pick continues to perform better than almost any first-year player in NBA history.

Williamson is averaging 23.3 points. 7.1 rebounds and 2.3 assists per contest. He’s making the case to be considered a legitimate Rookie of the Year candidate, even though injuries have limited him to just 13 games. His traditional and advanced stats indicate that Williamson is already one of the best players in the league.

The New Orleans Pelicans are 18-27 without Williamson. The team has a 7-6 record when the superstar plays. He makes New Orleans, which trails the No.8 seed Memphis Grizzlies by 3.5 games, a real threat to reach the playoffs.

Here are five numbers that highlight just how incredible Williamson has been in 2020.

3.28 Real Plus-Minus

Williamson is 24th among all 490 NBA players and sixth out of 89 small forwards in ESPN’s real plus-minus. He’s more than two points ahead of Rookie of the Year favorite Ja Morant (1.25), who ranks 116th in the league. Williamson is ahead of players like Luka Doncic, Devin Booker and Kyle Lowry.

8.0 FGM In Restricted Area

Nobody dominates the paint like Williamson. He leads the NBA in field goals made per game inside the restricted area and from within five feet of the basket. Only three other players average more than 5.8 made shots from the restricted area. Williamson has 33 dunks and 24 unassisted field goals at the rim.

11.8 Net Rating

New Orleans is a significantly better team when Williamson is on the court. The Pelicans score 113.7 points per 100 possessions and surrender 101.9 points per 100 possessions when Williamson plays. Paul Millsap is the only player that isn’t on the Milwaukee Bucks and plays at least 20 minutes per game with a better net rating than Williamson. New Orleans has a minus-3.1 net rating when Williamson is on the bench.

25.50 PER

Williamson ranks 12th overall in PER and one spot behind LeBron James. Karl-Anthony Towns and Kyrie Irving are the only players ahead of Williamson that didn’t make the 2020 All-Star team. Brandon Clarke is 25th as the next rookie on the list. Morant (17.87) is tied for 77th.

57.3% Shooting

If Williamson played enough games to qualify among the league-leaders, he’d be 12th in field-goal percentage. Of the 14 players that shoot at least 55%, only Giannis Antetokounmpo averages more points per game than Williamson. Only Antetokounmpo, Williamson and John Collins average more than 20 points on better than 53% shooting. Williamson has shot at least 53.8% in 11 of his 13 games.