Apparently Zion Williamson Is Also Good at Poetry

Now that’s he’s officially declared for the NBA Draft in June, we know that Zion Williamson will enter The Association as the hottest young prospect in recent memory. But as relates to the 19-year-old big man himself — as a living, breathing human being who also exists off the basketball court — we really don’t know much.

In an ESPN profile, writer Mina Kimes reveals Williams likes anime and listens to Jay-Z (which his teammates describe as “old school”). She also shed light on something even more revelatory: Williamson is a poet.

The basketball star’s former teacher at Spartanburg Day School in South Carolina, Bill Pell, calls Williamson “a hell of a poet.”

In the piece, Pell details how Williams first tried his hand at penning short stories but then shifted over to writing poetry after being exposed to works by Shakespeare, Dylan Thomas and Billy Collins. At first, Williamson was cautious about sharing his poems, but he opened up after Pell began making suggestions.

“Then all he did was write poems … and the deeper we got into the year, the more complicated and sophisticated they became. They were remarkable,” Pell said. “I said, ‘Zion … you’re going to be as good a writer as you are a basketball player if you follow through on this.’”

If Williamson’s poetry is as good as Pell says, whichever NBA team is lucky enough to draft the ex-Blue Devil is going to get one helluva halftime team-talker.

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