Zion Williamson Wanted to Return to Duke For Sophomore Year

Family, Coach K talked him out of decision

Zion Williamson is getting close to making his NBA debut. Sidelined since the preseason, Williamson is now participating fully in practice with the New Orleans Pelicans and is playing four-on-four before games.

However, if the No. 1 pick in 2019’s NBA Draft had his way, he’d be working his way back to a return to the floor with Duke, not the Pelicans.

Williamson appeared on a podcast hosted by teammate and fellow former Blue Devil JJ Redick and told him he wanted to come back to Duke for his sophomore season.

Redick, who called the idea “crazy,” asked if Williamson considered it for “hours” before deciding to go pro. Williamson surprised him, however.

“It was like the deadline,” he said. “Me? I wanted to go back. Nobody ever believes me. They think I’m just saying that, but no, I genuinely wanted to go back. I felt like the NBA wasn’t going anywhere. The money thing—that’s money. I don’ play this for money. I play because I genuinely love the game. I just loved my experience at Duke that much. I wanted to stay.”

Lining up on the other side—encouraging Williamson to leave Duke were his coach, teammates and family.

“Coach K’s not gonna let me come back,” Williamson recalled thinking, “because he wants me to do what’s best for my family.”

His Duke teammates told him they’d love to have him back, but “I would be leaving too much, and I didn’t work this long to get to that,” Williamson recalled.

In the end, he discussed the decision with his family.

“It was tough,” he said. “It was kind of my mom. She said she’s gonna support whatever I do. So I said, ‘All right, I’m going back.’ She 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 it.’ I said I did work for it since I was four or five.”