Zion Williamson 'Striving' to Be Great 2-Way Player Like Michael Jordan

Duke forward Zion Williamson continued his stellar season Thursday with 17 points and 13 rebounds in a 69-58 win over No. 12 Texas Tech at Madison Square Garden.

The 18-year-old freshman, who Bleacher Report's Jonathan Wasserman lists first overall on his 2019 NBA draft big board, spoke with reporters postgame and revealed sky-high basketball aspirations to be a two-way great, a la basketball legend Michael Jordan. The video below comes via Michael A. Scotto of The Athletic:

Williamson is doing a great job on both ends. On offense, he's averaged 19.8 points on 65.2 percent shooting and 2.3 assists per game. The 6'7" big man has also registered 2.1 steals and 1.9 blocks per night.

Williamson's player efficiency rating is an eye-popping 42.2, which is by far the best figure in Division I men's college hoops. For context, Oregon big man Bol Bol and Gonzaga forward Brandon Clarke are tied for second at 35.5.

That figure also holds up well historically. Sports Reference lists PER numbers for men's college basketball players since the 2009-10 season. The highest one until this year was from John Brown of High Point, who had a 36.9 PER in 2015-16. While impressive, that's nowhere near Williamson's mark, which is all the more staggering, considering Duke has played four Top 20 teams.

Williamson is off to a great start, but obviously he has a lot of basketball ahead of him before one can consider the Blue Devil on Jordan's level.

MJ is on an elite perch joined by LeBron James and no one else in basketball history, but it's not out of the realm of possibility to envision Williamson being mentioned in the same breath as the GOATs some day.