Tim Bontemps Paints Bleak Picture for Pelicans’ Future Despite Zion Williamson’s Offseason Transformation

When Zion Williamson was drafted No.1 overall by the New Orleans Pelicans in 2019, he was just 18. And the forward was expected to rise to the ranks of a leader, become a regular in All-Star teams, and pick up accolades aplenty. And, needless to say, the hope was for a ring somewhere down the line…

Instead, going into his 7th season in the NBA, the newly transformed Williamson still aims to prove to the Pelicans that he can be the face of their franchise that they so desperately seek. So what has gone wrong? Well, it’s not so much to do with his talent or hard work.

The 25-year-old has struggled to stay fit, missing 258 games in his career. This might sound a bit unreal, but he’s missed more games than he has played (218). As he heads into the 2025-26 season, Williamson seems to have undergone a serious physical transformation in the hopes of putting an end to his tryst with injuries. However, ESPN insider Tim Bontemps doesn’t believe it will make a difference to the Pelicans’ future.

“New Orleans is probably not going to be good this year,” Bontemps said, adding that even though they have players like Jeremiah Fears and Derik Queen, who might go on to become All-Stars, it doesn’t guarantee anything.

“Zion Williamson is obviously a huge enigma. He could be a guy who plays 65-70 games and makes the All-Star team again. He could once again be a guy who misses a lot of time. I don’t know what side I would bet, but we will see,” Bontemps added.

Who can blame Bontemps for being skeptical here? Williamson, after all, has only averaged 30 games in three of the five seasons he’s featured in since making his debut. And his last season started with a hamstring strain, and once he came back from that, Williamson found himself on the wrong end of a season-ending bone bruise. 

“If you are trying to paint the rosy picture for the Pelicans, the best argument you can make is [that] Zion Williamson plays 70+ games and this team is pushing for a playoff spot. That’s probably the best realistic argument you can make,” added Bontemps, noting that the Western Conference is more competitive than ever, with pretty much every team capable of beating another on a given day.

So the insider feels Pelicans’ best bet would be landing a top 10 pick in what’s expected to be a really strong draft next year. “That would be something that would really boost the future outlook of a team like this,” he said.

“Instead, they don’t have that pick, and Atlanta has it. And so even if they are bad this year, it’s hard to look at it and say, ‘man, these guys could add Darryn Peterson and AJ Dybantsa to Zion Williamson and these other guys and maybe they take off,” Bontemps added, reiterating that such an option is simply not available to them.

Of course, things can change for the Pelicans because anything can happen on the court. But if people were being realistic, things look pretty bleak for the team in the short term, according to Bontemps.