In 2017, Zion(6 July 2000) was the #1 recruit for the class of 2018 while debatably, so was Marvin Bagley III. RJ Barret was the #1 recruit of 2019 and reclassified to the class of 2018 and was followed by Bagley who moved to the class of 2017.
There were questions then if Zion would still the #1 recruit after Barrett dominated the FIBA U18. ESPN had Zion ranked at #2 with Cam Reddish going at #3. After 1 year at Duke, there was no doubt Zion will be the #1 pick in the 2019 NBA draft.
Ever since he got drafted, Zion has only played in 19 games with an average of the following:
Mins: 29.7
Pts: 23.6
Reb: 6.8
Ast: 2.2
Stl: 0.8
Blk: 0.5
PER: 24.32
Ja Morant(August 10, 1999) came out of High School in 2017 along with the class of along with Marvin Bagley III, Michael Porter Jr., DeAndre Ayton and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. He was not in any of the Top 100 highschool rankings. Only had one NCAA Division 1 school, South Carolina, but was then accidentally discovered by a Murray State assistant coach and was offered a scholarship and decided to get drafted after his sophomore year.
Ever since he got drafted, Ja has played in 59 games with an average of the following:
Mins: 30.0
Pts: 17.6
Reb: 3.5
Ast: 6.9
Stl: 0.9
Blk: 0.3
PER: 18.02
If we were to look at stats and game impact, it would be easy to say Zion. However, in our OPINION, there should be a minimum number of games played to win Rookie of the Year. Our threshold is 80% of games played. Zion never had a chance since the pelicans are still ranked 10th in the west at 28-36 and 32-33 for the Grizzlies.
Ever since his return, the Pelicans only won 10 of his 19 games played. That’s not too bad but to be considered, if they won 16 out 19 games, then they would be ranked above the Grizzlies at 8th place. With continued success with that trajectory(wishful thinking), they might end up in 5th or 6th place.
They’re not. Ja wins.
Sources:
https://tv5.espn.com/nba/player/advancedstats/_/id/4395628/zion-williamson
https://tv5.espn.com/nba/player/advancedstats/_/id/4279888/ja-morant
http://www.espn.com/college-sports/basketball/recruiting/playerrankings/_/class/2018/order/true
