Zion Williamson has already arrived, and now his signature shoe is on the way

Before one of the most dominant young players in recent NBA history was even born, his great-grandmother told his mother to “look for something extra special” to name him, because he was going to be extra special.

Grand-grandma wasn’t wrong. That unborn baby turned out to be Zion Williamson.

Named after Mount Zion, a site of holy significance in Jerusalem, the 20-year-old New Orleans Pelicans, is the definition of “extra special.”

The 6’7″, 284-pound forward plays with the deft touch of a point guard and the speed and athleticism of a wing, a combination that prompted Hall of Fame lock Kevin Durant to call him “a once-in-a-generation type of athlete.”

And that was when he was still in high school.

Things haven’t slowed down for Zion. His single season in college at Duke University earned him college player of the year and first-team All-American honors as well as the Wayman Tisdale Award for most outstanding freshman of 2019, the Karl Malone Award for power forward of the year, ACC’s athlete and player of the year titles and a host of others. Sheesh.

Even though his first season in the NBA was interrupted by both injury and the pandemic, Williamson still featured heavily in the Rookie of the Year conversation after averaging 22.5 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.2 assists over 24 games in 2019-2020.

Jordan Brand saw the vibes early, signing Williamson to the second-largest rookie shoe deal in history over the summer of 2019. The only athlete with a bigger first sneaker contract? A guy by the name of LeBron James, maybe you’ve heard of him.

The world has gone through some major upheaval since then, but now Jumpman is ready to unveil the man mountain’s first signature model.

Arriving on 4/23, the Jordan Zion 1 is built to corral one of the most unique players in the game.

The mid-cut silhouette is built atop a full-length Air strobel, a structure and support layer that sits between the midsole and the sockliner, also found in Kevin Durant’s signature models as well as the Cosmic Unity line.

A Zoom Air unit stacked under the forefoot offers the player extra responsiveness whether they’re playing on the hardwood or the blacktop, while higher sidewalls and a two-loop band keep the foot secure and stable.

Like so many Nike Basketball silhouettes before it, the Jordan Zion 1 will debut in a black/white colorway featuring a sockliner bearing his name, gold Jumpman and “ZW” logos contrasting the black tongues, and icy blue translucent outsoles.

Later this year we’ll see “Marion” and “Noah” colorways, paying tribute to a South Carolina town that Williamson called home growing up and his younger brother respectively. Stay tuned for more info on those.

UPDATE, 4/22: The Jordan Zion 1 ‘Black/White’ releases in Men’s sizing in limited quantities on 4/29 at finishline.com.

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