Zion Williamson has a well-established affinity for food. His Raising Cane’s orders are the stuff of legend, and his ability to down gumbo is nothing short of extraordinary. As a result, I was curious to see if there was any relationship between his on-the-field performance and the quality of milkshakes in a given city.
Data Collection:
- Scraped box score numbers from ESPN for each away game that Zion started during his career. I then calculated the game score, which provides a rough measure of a player’s productivity for a single game. The scale is similar to that of points scored (40 is an outstanding performance, 10 is an average performance, etc.) . The full formula is outlined here.
- Calculated a milkshake rating for the metropolitan area nearest to each NBA stadium using available Yelp reviews (scale from 1-5).
Visualizations:
Average Game Score vs. Yelp Rating Grouped by City
Regression Output:
Regressing Game Score on Milkshake Ratings with Time Fixed Effects
Conclusion:
There is a statistically significant positive relationship between Yelp rating and game score at the 1% level. A 1% increase in milkshake rating results in approximately a 4% increase in game score. Contrary to popular belief, Zion takes his game to another level after consuming a high-quality shake. I believe I may have uncovered the secret to fully unlocking his potential and strongly recommend taking out a second mortgage the next time Zion steps foot in the Bay Area.
There have been and will be many imitators, but nothing will outdo the Harden Strip club quality related to play post.