The Zion Williamson experience continues to grow grimmer by the week. The former No. 1 pick has been sidelined for a huge chunk of his NBA career. In his first six seasons, he played only about 214 out of 472 possible regular-season games, meaning he’s missed more than half of his team’s games.
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Why has Zion missed so much time? Injuries; everything from hamstring strains to a serious lower back contusion, and in the 2024–25 season alone, he only appeared in 30 games before being shut down for the year.
He’s played merely five games this season, averaging 22.8 points on 48.7% shooting from the field, numbers that don’t scream ‘ZION’ all too much. This is due to a grade 1 left hamstring strain that he’s been nursing, only being cleared for on-court activities five days ago.
All that absence has really hurt the Pelicans. When Zion’s in, he’s a monster. His explosiveness, strength, and scoring ability give the team a legit superstar to build around. But he’s been so unreliable, season after season, that New Orleans has struggled to build consistency. It’s severely hurt the franchise. And Kendrick Perkins is sick of seeing it.
Perk spoke about Zion during the latest edition of the Road Trippin podcast, where the panel were speaking about the Pelicans firing head coach Willie Green. “This is less about Willie Green being fired and how Zion Williamson is a culture killer and organization killer,” claimed KP, who was hot with his take.
“Zion has completely f***ed this organization since they drafted him. Real talk. You can’t depend on him. You don’t know what’s going on. There’s so much you have to do, you have to clean up certain areas,” he stated.
And this isn’t just a retired veteran slamming a modern day player for kicks. Perkins supported Zion all offseason, and hoped that it was finally the year that he would emerge as the superstar the league was hoping he would become. But whether it was bad luck or bad self-care, Zion is out once again.
Furthermore, he puts the Pelicans into a tricky financial situation, one that still blows Kendrick’s mind. “The most hyped athlete since LeBron James and he is on a non-guaranteed max contract. We have never heard of anything like that in life,” he joked. KP then pitched what he thinks the organization should do, which is to move on.
“So he’s not available. What are you going to do with him? They can waive him, they can trade him. What is his trade market? I think they should move on from Zion,” KP suggested. He wasn’t done there yet either.
“All of a sudden he hurt his hamstring again. By the way, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody in sports hurt their hamstring more than Zion Williamson.” Perkins can me mean and downright wrong on many occasions. But it’s hard to disagree with him here.
It’s hard to blame people for feeling fed up. Zion’s talent is unreal, but the constant injuries and uncertainty have pushed the Pelicans into a corner they never expected to be in. At some point, the franchise has to decide whether they’re still waiting on potential or moving forward without it.
And if Zion doesn’t find a way to stay on the floor soon, even his biggest defenders might finally throw in the towel.
