‘So proud’: Fans around SC celebrate top picks Zion Williamson, Ja Morant
It was a night to remember for basketball fans throughout the Palmetto State on Thursday.
Two of the state’s most prized prospects, Zion Williamson and Ja Morant, went 1-2 in the NBA Draft. Williamson went to the New Orleans Pelicans with the top pick and Morant to the Memphis Grizzlies with the second pick. It was the first time players from the same state went 1-2 since Illinois natives Mark Aguirre and Isaiah Thomas in 1981.
Friends and family of both stars gathered at watch parties throughout the state.
Williamson’s fans gathered at the Fr8yard bar and restaurant in Spartanburg, and as an emotional Williamson spoke to ESPN moments after being drafted, one of his former teachers fought back tears as she soaked in the moment.
“I’m afraid I’m going to cry because we’re all so proud of him and we consider him ours, even though he has obviously moved on and become a bigger star,” said Margaret Sullivan, who taught Williamson French and worked with him with the Youth and Government program at Spartanburg Day School.
“He’ll always be our kid. It doesn’t surprise me at all to see this much community support because he’s the kind of kid that people want to cheer for.”
Fans of all ages were wearing Duke and Spartanburg Day attire, including Spartanburg Day School sixth-grade student Deuce Williams, who wore a Zion shirt.
Williams said it was an easy decision to show support for Williamson.
“Just how he supports Spartanburg, he supports the city a lot, he inspires everybody in the city,” Williams said of why he came out.
Morant’s friends and family, some wearing his Murray State No. 12 jerseys, were pouring in at Trendz Sports Bar in Sumter before the NBA Draft.
“We got a lot of family here, sisters, aunts and cousins. Everyone wanting to see what happens tonight,” Morant’s great uncle Willie Dawson said. “He worked all his life trying to be recognized. I watched him ever since he was a little fella. I remember he couldn’t dunk the ball until his senior year in high school. I watched him going through middle school and that has paid off.”
Morant is a beloved figured in Sumter County with a basketball court behind his parents’ house a gathering place for kids and where his father, Tee Morant, helped him in the game. He stayed at Crestwood High School before moving on to Murray State and earning All-American honors this year.
“He is homegrown,” family friend Dominique Wiley said. “He didn’t go to California or Texas to better his career. He did it in his backyard with his dad. He was always doubted, in high school and college. But he is going to continue to prove people wrong and show that they picked the right player.”
Two more players with SC ties were taken in the second round. The Brooklyn Nets took Greenville’s Nic Claxton with the first pick of the second round. Claxton played two seasons at Georgia and his father Charles was drafted in the second round of the 1994 NBA Draft.
College of Charleston’s Jarrell Brantley went with the 50th pick in the second round by Utah Jazz. Brantley played his first two years of high school at Ridge View in Columbia.
This story was originally published June 20, 2019 at 8:10 PM.