Everything you need to know about the Ziaire Williams commitment

Five-star recruit Ziaire Williams announced yesterday via Twitter that next year he will be attending Stanford University. The 6’8” small forward from California made this announcement after months of receiving multiple offers from some of the top college basketball programs and did it alongside his parents and in collaboration with Mars Reel and UNINTERRUPTED, the media platform founded by Lebron James.

Williams is regarded as one of the top players in his class, ranking number two amongst small forwards and fourth amongst players out of the state of California. The Sierra Canyon player shared the court this year with LeBron James Jr. and Zaire Wade, sons of superstars and future Hall of Famers Lebron James and Dwyane Wade. He also was chosen for the McDonalds All American game, which was supposed to be played on April 1st at Toyota Center but was cancelled due to the Coronavirus outbreak.

He is one of the best players in his class, as mentioned before, and has drawn comparisons to Atlanta Hawks’ guard Cam Reddish. Ziaire is a gifted athlete, who can play at the 3 and the 4, has a great pull up game as well as a very quick first step which allows him to drive to the basket and finish around the hoop with ease. He also scores a hefty amount of points from catch and shoot situations and is a solid defender and a good passer as well, according to scouts.

A few aspects of his game which he will definitely need to improve during his college time if he wants to take his game to the next level will be his ball-handling and, especially, his strength. Weighing in at just 180lbs, Williams looks a bit frail in the court sometimes against bigger defenders and gaining some muscle will most definitely help improve another one of his weaknesses which is his lack of aggressiveness at certain points during games. Putting on some weight will also help improve his rebounding, another aspect of the game on which scouting reports agree he can improve.

All things said, Ziaire looks like a lockdown lottery pick in the 2021 NBA Draft for most of experts and for me as well. He is a talented player and I for sure will be looking forward to seeing how his game develops over the next few years.