The New Orleans Pelicans lost their sixth straight contest last night in a 93-104 home loss against the New York Knicks. Now holding a 5-24 record, the Pels’ season appears to be over even before the mid-way mark. Zion Williamson, of course, has been facing the brunt of the criticism for his continued unavailability. Even broadcaster Mike Breen couldn’t hold back his feelings about the 24-year-old when he was providing color commentary.
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As the camera cut to Williamson sitting on the bench at Smoothie King Center during the contest, Breen quipped, “Zion Williamson in a familiar spot, on the bench.”
Mike Breen:
“Zion Williamson in a familiar spot, on the bench.”
😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/NGlSXBNYgE
— The Strickland (@TheStrickland) December 22, 2024
Zion’s injury liability has taken him out of superstar contention and invited such jokes about his legacy in the NBA. For any fans outside of NOLA, Breen’s comment certainly seems well-deserved. And maybe some Pelicans fans too are frustrated enough to give up on the former #1 pick.
After all, Williamson has participated in just 6 games this season and is already out of the conversation for regular season awards and All-NBA honors.
On opening night of the 2024-25 season, Zion missed his 207th game in the NBA. He has added 23 to that tally this year as a hamstring injury has kept him on the sidelines since the first week of November. He checked out of the Pels’ game against the Cavaliers on November 6th and has since faced a rocky road to recovery.
Six weeks later, Williamson should have been back in the lineup, but it’s unclear if he will even return before 2025.
Zion Williamson has lost the momentum from his previous season
Last season was the most game time the NBA had seen from Zion. He participated in 70 games, averaging 22.9 points, 5.8 rebounds and 5.1 assists on 57% from the field.
This season, he has scored fewer points per game while shooting 45.2% on all field goals. It’s particularly disappointing for a player whose offense is mostly focused around the rim. Therefore, fans want to see Williamson take more accountability for his fitness.
“It’s hard man,” he told Gilbert Arenas about following a diet regiment. “When you’re young, you feel like can’t nothing stop you. When you look back on your life, you really look at like, man, people who gave me wisdom, tried to nurture me…I do respect brutal honesty.”
NBA legends like Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley have hurled plenty of brutal honesty towards Williamson, and it did seem to have a positive effect on his approach to fitness. After missing the 2021-22 season, Zion was reportedly weighing north of 300 pounds, and entering last season, he brought that number back down to 284. He entered this season weighing just 281 points, with the goal of reaching 272 for the regular season.
Though, it wasn’t just the brutal honesty of Shaq and Chuck that was driving the train. When the Pelicans extended Zion’s contract in 2022, they added a clause that required him to remain below 295 pounds. If he crosses that mark, he is set to lose money from his salary.
He is also set to lose out because the contract required Williamson to play in 41 games this season in order to guarantee 40% of his salary. That is looking increasingly unlikely as it would only allow Zion to miss 18 games over the remainder of the season.
