The mismatch of the century went viral on the Internet Friday.
A video of an 11th-grade Zion Williamson resurfaced on Twitter on Friday, but the New Orleans Pelicans star only was half the reason why.
Williamson’s high school team, Spartanburg Day, was facing Oakbrook Prep back in 2017. Tasked with guarding the polarizing NBA rookie on a few possessions was Bryson Bishop, a 5-foot-6 eighth grader.
Here’s a video of of Bishop trying to box a 6-foot-4-inch Williamson:
Bishop was — at least mentally — up to the task, clapping to pump up his team while unsuccessfully trying to gain position on Williamson. But Williamson scored 36 points in a 78-54 victory, per the Undefeated’s Jerry Bembry.
Ironically, Bishop almost transferred to Williamson’s school, and had another encounter with him almost two years later.
“When I went to the school, I met with him and he was real chill,” Bishop said. “He recognized me from the video.”
Instead of joining forces with Williamson for his last year at Spartanburg Day, however, he decided on Spartanburg Christian.
“It would have been cool to play with him for a year, but I figured when Zion left the coach would leave as well.
“It was just better for me to go somewhere else.”
These days, Bishops is a 5-foot-11 junior point guard ranked as the 45th player in South Carolina, and after transferring for his sophomore year, is a Spartanburg Christian captain.
He scored 16 points in the SC 2A state championship and made the division’s All-State team. Per LSU athletics’ Cody Worsham, he’s scored 1,000 points in his career thus far.
He didn’t quite experience the growth spurt Williamson did, but still has seemingly put together a nice little high school basketball campaign.
