Zion Williamson should have been competing for MVPs in his age-25 season. Instead, he’s just trying to show the New Orleans Pelicans he can still be their franchise player.
Williamson has had the most star-crossed career of any young basketball phenom. He looked like a generational talent coming out of Duke when the Pelicans selected him with the No. 1 overall pick in 2019. Over his first five years, he’s missed more games (258) than he’s played (214). Williamson has played 30 games or fewer in three of the five seasons he’s actually appeared in, including last year, when a hamstring strain wiped away the start of the year and a bone bruise in his back ended it after a month once he came back.
This feels like a make-or-break year for Williamson entering the 2025-26 season with a new front office and evolving roster around him in New Orleans. The myriad of struggles during his young career — with his weight, his injuries, his professionalism — can’t keep being excused. Williamson needs to prove he can handle the responsibility of being the face of the franchise, and that starts with being in shape and available to play. There’s a long season in front of him, but after showing up to Media Day with a slim figure and encouraging attitude, Williamson is finally giving the NBA a reason to believe.
You thought Luka Doncic’s revenge body was impressive? Unlike the Lakers star, Williamson didn’t spend the offseason as the subject of magazine features, and he wasn’t playing in marquee tournaments. Instead, by his own telling, Williamson was in the lab with former Pelicans assistant and WNBA legend Teresa Weatherspoon working on his body and his game. He talked about training like boxing and football drills, and focusing on playing in traffic in his skill development. You can watch Williamson’s full press conference from media day here.
“I haven’t felt this good since college,” Williamson said. This is exactly what the Pelicans want to see and hear. Now Zion has to prove it on the court.
Williamson was listed at 285 pounds when he showed up at Duke. He was reportedly 264 pounds last season during the 30 games he actually played. He looks even slimmer coming into this year. Here are some more photos from media day:
It was eight years ago when I flew to Colorado Springs to witness the Zion phenomenon at USA Basketball junior minicamp as he was entering his senior year of high school. At that point, Williamson was known for his ridiculous dunking ability and viral mixtapes, and no one really knew if it would work in the NBA. I described Williamson as a “refrigerator with wings” at the time as he plowed through skinny teenagers and felt unbound by gravity. It wasn’t until he put on a Duke uniform that it became immediately clear that Williamson wasn’t just some internet creation — he was special.
Williamson had one of the greatest and most memorable one-and-done seasons ever. He was a two-way wrecking ball that existed on a higher plane of strength and explosiveness than everyone else around him. Remember when his shoe exploded against North Carolina with Barack Obama sitting in the front row? At the time, it felt like evidence of the supernatural force only Zion could play with. Seven years later, its more like a warning sign that maybe his game was just too physical to last.
Williamson is 25 years old now. His foibles can no longer be excused as growing pains. He’s not the first young NBA star whose body betrayed him at an early age, but his reported lack of professionalism has made the league less forgiving to his bad breaks. Williamson’s weight became a bug, not a feature, as his injuries hampered his ability to do cardio. His diet was a problem. Last season, Zion was suspended for being late to a team flight. It has started to feel like Zion isn’t just some victim of bad luck, but someone who has suffered because he hasn’t taken his job seriously enough.
It’s worth noting that Williamson has been awesome when he’s played. Last year, he he averaged 24.6 points, 7.2 rebounds, 5.3 assists, and 1.2 steals per game on 60 percent true shooting. He posted a 36.6 assist rate to a 12.8 percent turnover rate, showing the dream of Point Zion still lives. He’s still too strong and too explosive for NBA players to contain. Just watch the way to he overpowers Draymond Green, Myles Turner and others in these highlights. Zion could still be great … if only he could stay on the court.
The Pelicans just couldn’t keep waiting on Zion to save them, so they did something close to a franchise reset over the summer. The front office led by David Griffin was fired and replaced with Joe Dumars and Troy Weaver. Brandon Ingram was traded to the Toronto Raptors. The team spent its No. 7 overall pick on young point guard Jeremiah Fears, and then made an unfathomably reckless move to trade its unprotected 2026 pick for the rights to fellow rookie Derik Queen.
At some point, it’s easy to wonder if the Pelicans are just cursed. Zion wasn’t the only one with injury problems last year. Herb Jones tore the labrum in his right shoulder and only played 20 games. Trey Murphy III only played 53 games with a torn rotator cuff. It’s easy to imagine a world where Jones’ elite defense and Murphy’s elite shooting are a wonderful complement to Zion’s powerful interior scoring … but it just hasn’t happened.
New Orleans needed to see Zion show up to camp looking trim and saying the right things. That’s happened. Now it’s up to him to prove he can be durable. Williamson did play 70 games in the 2023-24 season, so we know it’s possible. Of course, that year ended with a devastating injury in the play-in tournament against the Lakers as Williamson was having one of the best games of his career. Every time it seems like Zion is ready to breakthrough, he falls short again.
The Pelicans can waive Williamson after this year due to a clause in his contract that made his last three years non-guaranteed if he kept missing games. The moment of truth has arrived for Zion. He looks great as he reports to training camp, but no one is going to believe its real until he actually proves it.
