#4 Ziaire Williams – Forward – Stanford
The 2021 NBA Draft has a bunch of athletic, lengthy players, but one guy that really sticks out on the wing is Ziaire Williams. The 19-year-old forward measured 6’9.75” at the NBA Combine and with a 6’10.25” wingspan, he is a guy that is going to draw a lot of attention in the mid first-round area of this year’s draft.
Williams was a “one-and-done” player at Stanford this year and coming into college, he was already being named one of the best overall prospects for the 2021 draft class. He did not have the most impressive season at Stanford due to a knee injury, which has resulted in him falling outside of the Top-10 area in the draft, but you could make a case that Ziaire Williams is the best overall wing talent in the draft.
Length and size is what NBA teams are looking for one the wing nowadays and Williams possesses all of these intangibles to possibly turn into a fantastic two-way wing. His dribble pull-up on the wing is as elite as it can be coming out of college and a lot of draft gurus have been making the comparisons to Paul George and Rudy Gay.
Now, Ziaire Williams has a lot of work to do in order to reach this kind of production at the NBA level, but at first glance, he is very reminiscent of a young Paul George type of player. In terms of the Grizzlies needs, they may not have an immediate need for a wing since they have Kyle Anderson and Dillon Brooks, but they do not really have many forward talents they can rely on.
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If they drafted Ziaire Williams, he would immediately be thrown into a role coming off-the-bench and should definitely see 20+ minutes per game given his length and versatility. Basically, drafting Williams gives the Grizzlies an unpolished, unfinished product, but they have time to invest in him and it could wind up paying off big time.
In my mind, Ziaire Williams has a chance to be a steal in this draft given his upside. If he falls to 17th overall, Memphis should absolutely consider taking him because he will without a doubt be the best wing available.
