90 Time November 25, 2019
GREAT EXPECTATIONS
ZION WILLIAMSON | 19
By Shaquille O’Neal
I’ve been hearing the comparisons since
Zion Williamson was in high school. Big-
bodied. Forceful dunks. Elite athleticism.
Highly touted. They go on and on.
Personally, I think every player is unique
in their own right.
Who Zion Williamson is as a player
shone through in the weeks after a national
TV audience witnessed the then college
athlete rip through his shoe and limp off
the court injured this past February. Many
analysts questioned whether he would
ever don a Blue Devils uniform again. Why
risk further injury at the expense of a long
NBA career? What else was there for him
to play for?
A lot, apparently, and it had nothing to
do with what was ahead of him at the pro-
fessional level. Blocking all of the chatter
out, Zion decided to return to action—and
Duke went on to win the ACC tournament.
It was in his decision to come back where I
learned everything I needed to know about
the kid.
As we eagerly await Zion to start his
rookie season in the NBA after knee sur-
gery, he already has the weight of the world
on his shoulders. But what means the
most to him is playing hard for his team-
mates and coaches, setting a good example
through his actions and making his family
proud. No matter what happens when he
joins his teammates on the court, I know
these guiding principles will serve him
well down the line.
And because of that, coupled with
his talent, no comparison to anyone
comes close.
O’Neal is a four-time NBA champion
RECORD BREAKER
REGAN SMITH | 17
When Regan Smith was only 10,
U.S. swimming star Missy Franklin set
a world record in the 200-m backstroke
at the London Olympics. As the native
Minnesotan began her competitive
swimming career, her best times were a full
10 seconds off that mark, which seemed
impossible to match, let alone beat. But
at the World Champion ships this year—
where at 17 she was the youngest member
of Team USA—Smith dropped Franklin’s
record by more than half a second. To top
it off, at the same meet, she also smashed
the 100-m backstroke record while
swimming the leadoff stroke in a relay. The
Olympics are her ultimate goal, and if she
continues motoring through the water at
that blistering pace, she’ll likely set more
records at the Tokyo Games next summer.
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POLITICAL FIREBRAND
BOBI WINE | 37
Ugandan pop star Bobi Wine spent his
career singing about social injustice.
In 2017, he decided to take things
a step further by running for, and
winning, a seat in parliament. Now the
37-year-old singer, whose real name is
Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, has set
his sights higher, announcing in July
that he will take on President Yoweri
Museveni, who has ruled for the past
33 years through a combination of
deft politics, questionable election
practices and constitutional
manipulation. “Eighty percent of our
population is under the age of 35,”
Wine says. “They deserve a leader who
works for the future of Uganda, not for
himself.” Wine’s growing popularity
amounts to peril. He has been jailed,
beaten and charged with treason—
proof, he says, that the President is
running scared well in advance of the
2021 election and that change is on
the way. —Aryn Baker