As the anticipation for the new NBA season rises, so do the hopes of Zion Williamson and his fanbase. The 25-year-old star has looked like one of the most dominating players in the league when he’s healthy. Unfortunately, Zion has missed nearly 258 games in his six-year career, which is more than he’s even played.
Advertisement
But it’s a new year, and as of right now, Zion is ready to take this season by storm and make some noise with the new look Pelicans. Iman Shumpert is excited for the big guy. The former Cavs star spoke about Zanos during today’s NBA on ESPN broadcast.
“I think that Zion being healthy is exciting for any franchise. When he does play, and he is available, they DO do better in the winning department,” stated Shumpert with genuine enthusiasm. That said, he does still have some skepticism about Williamson 100%.
“But having him at that size and seeing him healthy all the time is going to be a problem,” the 2016 NBA champ stated before mentioning his concerns about Derik Queen as well.
“It’s the same thing I’m seeing when I see the young guy, Queen. I see that same body type. It scares me when I look at the league because I look at the league now, and I see everybody is in that form of, ‘We can run, we can stay up and down the floor, but we are very VERY skilled.'”
Shumper has the right to be concerned. For six seasons, Zion has been the talk of the town, until he ends up riding the bench for most of the season. Last year, he only played 30 games. He averaged 24.6 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 5.3 assists in those games, but does it matter when he missed over 52 chances to stat pad?
Queen is a different story. He hurt his wrist playing in the Summer League and had to undergo surgery that will keep him sidelined for 12 weeks. Will this impact his long-term future? Probably not, but it’s a scary sign considering the intensity of the league is only going to pick up.
It would be nice to see a healthy Zion in the postseason, pushing New Orleans to a second-round appearance. It could happen, but as Shumpert said, seeing him healthy all the time is a problem.
