Zion & RJ’s Debut Overshadowed By Mother Nature

It takes a lot to overshadow Zion Williamson and RJ Barrett but the tectonic plates were up to the job: during their first summer league game in Las Vegas, the scoreboard and speakers hanging from the ceiling of the Thomas and Mack Center began to sway back and forth as the ESPN crew announced a 7.1 earthquake.

As it turns out, it was in California, sort of between LA and Vegas if you ran a string between them then used a pin to move it north/northeast.

When the game was suspended, the massive scoreboard and speakers in the ceiling were still swaying back and forth.

As for what we saw on the court, it was a mixed bag. Several people thought that Williamson was somewhat out of shape.

Even so, he managed to pull off some spectacular plays, including a power strip of Kevin Knox followed by a massive dunk.

He was shut down after banging knees with (we think) Knox and finished the night with ice on his knee.

As for Barrett, he certainly played well in most aspects of the game, defending, rebounding and passing well but shooting poorly.

All things considered, aside from the below and above court drama, it was probably a typically uneven NBA rookie debut.

The star of the night? Another member of Duke South: Frank Jackson. The former Blue Devil shot 11-17 and scored 30. That was really great to see. He’s had a rocky start to his NBA career but that was an eye opening performance.

They’ll be talking about this one forever. You have to wonder though if Anthony Davis, who attended the game, had any second thoughts about forcing the Pelicans to trade him to Los Angeles. This is his reality for the near future. Standard NBA advice: rent, don’t buy.

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• Players react to massive earthquake that rocked Summer League game
• Zion Williamson injury update: Pelicans rookie exits Summer League debut vs. Knicks after knee-to-knee contact