The New Orleans Pelicans have had discussions with other teams about the possibility of trading away 2019 No. 1 overall pick Zion Williamson, per reports. The supremely talented but oft-injured freak of nature has only played in 114 of a possible 318 NBA during his four-year NBA career.
When he has been available the 6-foot-7 and 285-pound forward has been virtually impossible to guard, averaging 25.8 points and seven rebounds per game on nearly 61 percent shooting. Great numbers, but the old adage is your best ability is your availability, and Zion just hasn’t been available for his team. As if his not being available wasn’t already a huge deal, now Zion’s name is in the news for his personal life.
The Zany World Of Zion
Last week he revealed that he was expecting a baby with a social media named Ahkeema. That didn’t sit too well with OnlyFans personality Moriah Mills, who reportedly has been seeing the former Duke star and was just as surprised as the rest of us when the baby announcement was made.
She’s made it her job to call him out on social media and put all of their business on front street. Either way you slice it, it’s not a good look for Zion or for the team with all the issues surrounding their franchise player.
This and other factors have led many to believe the team could be shopping Zion in an effort to get the No. 2 pick in next week’s draft. If the alleged rumors come to fruition, the reports are the team would like to draft point guard Scoot Henderson, who’s a projected top-three pick.
With the rocky relationship between Zion and the team stemming from his unwillingness to do the things to help alleviate injuries, to his saying he’d play when he was right mentally, and now this off-the-court drama it may be time to cut bait and move on.
NBA Insider Says There’s No Relationship Between Zion And Organization
With just one week before the NBA Draft, on Friday ESPN NBA insider Brian Windhorst dropped a bombshell of a report. In the report he talked about the lack of a relationship between Williamson, the team and his teammates.
Never a good thing to hear something like that, but “Windy” took it further, adding this.
“From what I’ve been told, Zion has not been around the team much so far this summer,” Windhorst said on ESPN’s “Get Up.” “But that is not different from the way he’s operated in the past — that he hasn’t made it a priority to be around the team as much. He’s sort of worked out on his own. What I’d say is that there’s definitely not the type of relationship between that you’d like to have between a star player and a team here.
“And also, he doesn’t have as strong of relationships with his teammates, from what I am told, as you’d like to see. Now, that’s not a prerequisite for success, but as you look to try to build bonds moving forward that is something to consider.”
Windhorst said a lot, and from the sounds of it not much of is any good. Would the Pelicans trade a talent like Zion?
Hornets Have No. 2 Pick
If the team did trade Zion the belief is they’d like to trade for the No. 2 pick in next week’s draft. A move like that would team Williamson with dynamic Hornets All-Star point guard and 2021 NBA Rookie of the Year LaMelo Ball. And with Michael Jordan reaching agreement to sell the team, landing Zion would be a home run hit for the new ownership.
As of now we’ll have to wait and see how this plays out, the Hornets should also be leery because the belief is Zion really wants to play in a big market, not in places like New Orleans or Charlotte.
