New Orleans Pelicans star Zion Williamson is entering year three of a five-year, $197 million extension he signed in July 2022. The 2019 No. 1 overall pick out of Duke has shown an inability to stay healthy, playing in less than 30 games in four of his six NBA seasons.
At the end of this past season reports were that it was very unlikely the Pelicans would move their franchise star, but upper management deemed no one untouchable in the trade market. It’s been a whirlwind couple of years for Williamson, whose personal life has played out in the public, and not in any way that Pelicans team brass can be happy about.
Williamson Messing Around With Porn Stars
The former Blue Devils star had a relationship with adult film star Moriah Mills end in 2023, and when it did she didn’t hold back on trying to ruin him and his image. Mills released texts and made numerous rants on social media aimed at Zion, whom she claimed made her believe she was his lady. Despite things going awry between the two nearly two years ago, Mills has been unrelenting in her attacks on Williamson, her latest move being a $50 million lawsuit claiming he raped, assaulted, kidnapped and made deaths threats towards her.
In a video posted to her TikTok account in June, the spiraling Mills told Williamson:
“Well now that your NBA career is potentially officially over, that means no money for me and no money for you.”
While it’s highly unlikely Williamson’s career is anywhere near over, this isn’t a good look for him and the Pelicans, and it’s been going on for two years. Mills even threatened to release sex tapes of her and Williamson if he didn’t adhere to her demands of continuing to support her financially as she claims he was doing before he got another woman pregnant.
Pelicans Taking Accusations Seriously
Speaking in June for the first time following the accusations against Zion, Pelicans head of basketball operations Joe Dumars was blunt about the team’s attitude toward the matter.
“You take that serious, right?” Dumars said. “You certainly don’t want to be dismissive of anything like that or take it lightly. But beyond that, there’s nothing else that I could possibly say to touch that, other than the fact that we look at it, we take it serious, and then we’ll let it play out and see where it goes.”
Team owner Gayle Benson said, “Lawsuits are lawsuits. You can sue for anything. It’s just something people do, unfortunately.”
Zion’s Body Hasn’t Held Up
There’s no question about Zion’s talent, because when he plays he averages nearly 25 points, seven rebounds and five assists per game on shooting splits of 59/33/70. Not bad for a guy who’s played in just 214 career games while missing 268.
If that doesn’t change his career could be over, along with making better decisions in his personal life.
