Zion Williamson is a superstar built like a tank made out of aluminum. The New York Pelicans have a shiny monster on their hands, but one hit to him reveals their problems. The star has missed more games in his career than he has played in his four years in the league.
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Entering the league with a busted foot, Zion’s debut got everyone out of their seats. Barely missing a jumper, he quickly showed everyone why he vs. Ja Mhent would be a duel for the ages. His second season was fairly injury-free, up until the season’s final games.
What was forecast as a regular foot injury turned out to be a year-long battle to get back on track. With a weight gain of massive proportions and a whole lot of ridicule later, Zion missed an entire season to come back stronger this year. He was playing well until, well, another injury happened.
After injuring his hamstring after playing only one game in the new year, he’s been sidelined for weeks with no definite timeline. He was expected to return around the All-Star break, but he’s aggravated the injury yet again, requiring weeks of rehabilitation.
Shannon Sharpe took to Undisputed to rant about the New Orleans star missing so many games because of his build. “He’s an F1 car built like an 18-wheeler,” he called out, because of the disparity between his build and his style of play.
On a scale of 1-10, how much can the Pelicans trust Zion Williamson’s health?
“It’s a lower number than 0. They should have zero confidence that Zion will be healthy for the rest of his career.” — @ShannonSharpe pic.twitter.com/5SyrecsWy8
— UNDISPUTED (@undisputed) February 14, 2023
Shannon Sharpe does not hold back when asked about the New Orleans Star
Digging deep into his vocabulary, Shannon blasted the health record of the heir apparent to LeBron James. Once called the next in line for the throne, LeBron has missed fewer games in the past four years than Zion has played.
According to Shannon, he cannot look past the fact that Zion has missed half the games in his nascent career. And that is a factor in determining whether he will be healthy throughout. Someone of Zion’s size should not be able to move the way he does. And if they do, it takes a toll on their body.
Rightly said, because Zion moves like a gazelle but is built like a moose. It’s hard to imagine someone like the Undertaker doing the ballet, but here we are, watching Zion play like a guard. not much of it, but it’s fun to watch whenever he does.
Shannon Sharpe is right to be concerned about Zion’s career at this point, but it’s not all lost. Another example is a perfect scenario to prove that Zion can still pull it off.
Zion Williamson is injured quite a bit, yes, but another player of higher caliber has missed much more than the young star from Louisiana
Joel Embiid has been heralded as the second coming of Hakeem Olajuwon, but people forget that he missed his first two seasons with injury. And they also forget that apart from the previous season, he’s barely ever played more than 50 games a season.
Embiid has had more injury troubles than Zion in his initial years. From a possible 656 regular season games, Embiid has only played 372. He’s on target to play the most number of games in a season this year, bar any unforeseen injury.
Sure Zion’s injury record is worrying, but compared to Embiid, he’s played more games than the Philly star. Zion will never be a Michael Jordan or John Stockton but will play enough to deliver an impact. How much patience will the New Orleans front office have is a question for another day.
They want to win big, and if Zion needs to be moved on because of his injury record, then so be it. They are on track to receive Victor Wembanyama anyway!
