Zion Williamson Gets Two Cents From a Former 2nd Round Pick: “Your Teammates Will Respect You More If You Gave it a Shot”

Akash Murty | 14/04/2023
"I think your teammates [Pelicans] will respect you more if you try to give it a shot. This is the Playoffs, this is not preseason," Jackson said.

It took Stephen Jackson 3 years of playing in the CBA, NBL, and even the Dominican Republic to get himself back in the NBA after his Draft. He was the 42nd pick coming out of the 1997 draft and always gave his all to make it big in the NBA despite consistently being neglected. So, he knows what the $194 million contract-bound Zion Williamson has already got without playing one complete season since his draft.

Despite his weight issues, there was no doubt about Williamson going in as the 1st pick in the 2019 NBA Draft. The man had the biggest hype for a high school player since LeBron James. The Pelicans made no mistake in doing the right thing at the time, but he is in the last year of his contract worth over $44 million.

And although he has somehow made it to two All-Star teams in these four years, the 22-year-old has just played 114 games combined. Now compared to Ja Morant and RJ Barrett of his class, it’s abysmal how they have led their franchises to two Playoffs in that time starting from nothing.

All everyone wants for Zion to just give it a shot.

Stephen Jackson has a suggestion for Zion Williamson

The New Orleans Pelicans recently crashed out of the Play-ins after a very young OKC Thunder team showed some resilience and an exit door to a Zion-less squad.

It was their second straight season in the post-season without their All-Star. And as it ended even earlier for CJ McCollum and Co even earlier than the last season, he had something big to say about it.

It was surely a shot at Williamson. Former NBA Champ with San Antonio Spurs, Stephen Jackson, echoed CJ’s voice.

“I think your teammates [Pelicans] will respect you more if you try to give it a shot. This is the Playoffs, this is not preseason,” Jackson said.

Will Zion take this criticism in a positive way?

Now, it’s on Zion to take this as a personal attack against him, which it is not, or just a desperate call by some people who want to see what they expected to see him do when he was with Duke.

The man must be exhausted by everything he is going through just for dealing with life one day at a time. But that’s not how athletes live their lives. That is the deal you make when you choose to be a professional athlete.

 

Post Edited By: Akash Murty
Zion Williamson

About the author

Akash Murty

An Electrical and Electronics Engineer by degree, Akash Murty is an NBA Editor at The SportsRush. Previously a Software Engineer, Murty couldn’t keep himself away from sports, and his knack for writing and putting his opinion forward brought him to the TSR. A big Soccer enthusiast, his interest in basketball developed late, as he got access to a hoop for the first time at 17. Following this, he started watching basketball at the 2012 Olympics, which transitioned to NBA, and he became a fan of the game as he watched LeBron James dominate the league. Him being an avid learner of the game and ritually following the league for around a decade, he now writes articles ranging from throwbacks, and live game reports, to gossip. LA Lakers are his favourite basketball team, while Chelsea has his heart in football. He also likes travelling, reading fiction, and sometimes cooking.

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