Zion's red-hot start places rookie among high-scoring Hall of Famers

With his performance against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday, rookie phenom Zion Williamson became the first player since Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan to score 20 or more points in eight of the first 10 games of his career, according to StatMuse.

The New Orleans Pelicans rookie poured in a career-best 32 points on 11-of-19 shooting from the field and 10-of-13 from the free-throw line in the 123-118 loss.

Williamson is now averaging 22.1 points through 10 games. That clip would rank first among this year's rookie class - surpassing Ja Morant's 17.6 points per game - if the Duke product had played enough games to qualify for the scoring leaderboard.

The overall quantity of Williamson's scoring output has put him in lofty company with Hall of Famers Shaquille O'Neal and Allen Iverson:

Next up for Zion is a trip to Chicago, where he'll participate in Friday's Rising Stars game as a member of the U.S. Team.