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Zion Williamson Reunited With High School Rival Who Went Viral Defending Him

The Pelicans star crossed paths with an old friend prior to Friday’s preseason finale.

Jelani Scott

Long before Zion Williamson took his elite talents to the NBA, the Pelicans star rose to national prominence as a touted prospect from Spartanburg Day School in South Carolina.

In 2017, the high flying forward, then a high school junior, crossed paths with a 5-foot-6 eight grader by the name of Bryson Bishop during a game against local rival Oakbrook Prep. From that day on, the infamous video of Bishop enthusiastically clapping before trying to check a bewildered Williamson, only to foul him seconds later, has remained one of the eventual No. 1 pick’s most memorable highlights from his days as a prep school phenom.

On Friday, Williamson, who’s entering his fourth NBA season, had a chance ahead of the Pelicans’ preseason finale against the Hawks to reunite with Bishop nearly six years after their viral moment. New Orleans posted a clip of the epic meet-up on social media showing the two exchange pleasantries along with a photo of Williamson recreating the classic look he gave his former foe during the game.

Bishop, now a freshman guard at Birmingham-Southern College, also presented Williamson with one of his college jerseys to end the video. Fittingly, Bishop’s No. 1 just so happens to be the same number Williamson has rocked at both Duke and in the pros. 

“They got the right number,” Williamson joked as Bishop laughed on the side.

Earlier in the week, Bishop appeared to foreshadow the reunion in a clip shared by Baller TV where he discussed his moment with Zion. He explained he wasn’t in search of any notoriety at the time, and chalked his mid-game reaction up to being excited about playing varsity basketball.

“I’m just a competitor so I wasn’t trying to do it for any views or the cameras, like, I was just trying to hype our team up,” Bishop said. “I’m very competitive, I was just excited to be in that moment and playing as an eighth grader playing at a varsity level.”

While it’s highly likely Bishop will never forget his brush with a future NBA All-Star, Williamson made it clear last year that he hasn’t forgotten the moment either. He re-told the story on former teammate J.J Redick’s podcast, The Old Man and Three, and said that he respected Bishop for his tenacity but still found it hilarious that the pair matched up in the first place.

“Man, I’ll never forget that. That was our rival,” Williamson told Redick. “What people don’t know is, I got a lot of respect for him for doing that ’cause, you know, his teammates were so out of it that he was just trying to give them energy. And for him to be the one to come over there and do that, I got nothing but respect for him.”

“But when it was happening in the moment, I was like, “No way, don’t disrespect me like that.”

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Jelani Scott
JELANI SCOTT

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