NBA Trade Idea Pairs Former Duke Star Zion Williamson With Stephen Curry

Bleacher Report proposed that the Golden State Warriors trade for former Duke star and current New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson. 

Here is the trade idea: 

Warriors Receive: Zion Williamson

Pelicans Receive: Draymond Green, Kristaps Porziņģis and a top-four protected 2027 first-round pick

Williamson spent one season at Duke in 2018-19. He averaged 22.6 points, 8.9 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game while shooting 68.0% from the field and 64.0% from the free-throw line.

How dominant was Williamson at Duke? He earned 31 awards and honors. The Blue Devils went 32-6 and made it all the way to the East Regional Final, where they lost to Michigan State by one point.  

The Pelicans took Williamson with the first pick in the 2019 NBA Draft. Due to injuries, Williamson has played in only 279 games (as of this writing) with New Orleans. He's never appeared in a playoff game. 

New Orleans and Golden State are 0-3. To salvage Stephen Curry's final seasons in the NBA, the Warriors need to acquire a star, and Williamson fits that bill. The lefty has career averages of 23.8 points, 6.4 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game in the NBA. When he plays, Zion has proven to be effective. 

Williamson doesn't have a no-trade clause in his contract. He's making $42,166,510 this season and will make $44,886,930 next season in the final year of his contract. 

Curry loves Green, but Williamson would represent a massive talent upgrade over Green. Among NBA players with at least as many career minutes, Williamson's career average of 27.8 points per 75 possessions trails only Joel Embiid (31.6), Luka Dončić (30.6) and Michael Jordan (30.3). That's pretty good. 

The fact that Williamson does so much of his damage inside the three-point line would make him a dynamic pairing with Curry. Williamson has real gravity in the paint and Curry obviously has it from beyond the arc. He's the greatest shooter in NBA history. 

The push-and-pull they'd force on opposing defenses -- especially once Jimmy Butler is back to facilitate -- could once again give Golden State one of the NBA's most dangerous offenses.

It will be interesting to see if Williamson gets traded this season. He only spent one season at Duke, but that 2018-19 season was so special that many Blue Devil fans still follow Williamson's career. He's an elite athlete who can jump out of the gym and get to the rim at will and finish in heavy traffic. 

That's the type of scorer the Warriors need next to Curry right now.