Zion Williamson announces girlfriend's pregnancy

Zion Williamson has been one of basketball’s most viral names over the last half decade since he came out of high school. Now, as he continues to make strides to get back on the court, he’s also taking steps forward off the court and in his personal life.

Earlier this week, Williamson found out that he was going to be the father of a baby girl. That news came out with the release of a video on YouTube that had all the shots from the baby’s gender reveal party.

“You’re gonna see this at some point,” said Williamson to his unborn child through the camera. “I don’t know what the future holds but mommy and daddy love you. If you don’t know nothing else in this world, know that mommy and daddy love you for life.”

The basketball community best knows Williamson for his high-flying act since he broke out onto the scene in the 2018 class. He has taken the sport by storm since he was at Spartanburg Day School through his time with Duke and now as a member of the New Orleans Pelicans after being their No. 1 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft.

Still, he has also become highly polarizing in the NBA due to his injury history. When he plays, Williamson is one of the best in the association with averages of 25.8 points and seven rebounds per game while shooting 60.5% from the field. Through his four seasons, he has twice been named as an NBA All-Star. Even so, he has appeared in just 114 games over those four seasons. That averages out to under 30 per year in a league where they play 82 games a regular season.

To be fair, this announcement did also come with a new wave of criticism and controversy around Williamson. At its face, though, it’s an exciting announcement for the rising star who is set to turn 23 at the start of next month.

Silver expects decision on Morant’s punishment to come after NBA Finals

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver says an announcement regarding Ja Morant’s punishment for flashing a gun on IG Live will come after the NBA Finals, according to ESPN’s Tim McMahon.

Silver revealed the latest on the situation ahead of the NBA Finals between the Denver Nuggets and Miami Heat.

“We’ve uncovered a fair amount of additional information. We probably could have brought it to a head now. But we’ve made the decision that it would be unfair to these players and these teams to announce that decision in the middle of this series,” Silver said, via McMahon.

During the incident last month, a friend recorded Morant in his passenger seat while listening to NBA YoungBoy. At one point, the camera panned on Morant for a split second. That was enough time to make out the outline of a gun.

This was the second time this calendar year that the Memphis Grizzlies suspended Morant from all team activities.

Everyone thought Morant had learned his lesson after his Denver strip club incident. He seemed to have owned up to his mistakes and made peace with himself over the situation. After his eight-game suspension and seeing a counselor, he returned to the Grizzlies and didn’t miss a beat.

Morant having learned his lesson has turned out to not be the case. Now, the NBA star will be under an even bigger microscope for the foreseeable future. At this point, another more similar violation could see an extended suspension on the table for Morant, or worse.