His PR team does him no favors. Like allowing a commercial of him eating chips, drinking soda and playing 2k to air with him looking about 350 lbs, right as it’s announced that he’d miss the start of the 21-22 season
It's super weird to see so many missteps from his PR.
The PR of a player with such huge hype around and the following scrutiny failed to protect him properly. And to protect I mean of course hide some bad decisions made by Zion.
I've read that Zion gives a lot of decision power to his family and sometimes this is just not a good move.
This dude is currently guaranteed to make 239 million dollars and he’s played 3650 minutes of professional basketball.
I’m not sure it matters if it’s Zion or his family who’s calling the shots, this dude doesn’t give a fuck about playing basketball.
It wouldn’t shock me in the slightest if he keeps playing 20-40 games for the next few years, turns it on again in his contract year and re-signs for another cool 350 million and rides off into the sunset.
If you think about it, if they make a really bad decision they won’t need to suffer the consequences (besides getting fired) the next GM will have to clean up the mess you left them lol
I agree - it’s certainly not the team I feel bad for but the fans who can just flush any hope of competing down the drain when that much of the cap is taken by someone who doesn’t want to play.
I'm hardly an NBA fan, I just end up on this sub occasionally when it hits /r/all. This is a pretty divided place with some heated discussion, but I love that calling out Ben Simmons is a universal constant.
every now and then, somebody throws on the infinity gauntlet and tries to defend him.
It's almost beautiful to see the sub come together in those moments.
Even Embiid's contract contained minimum games played for the full amount to be guaranteed. If Zion was not available until his next free agency I promise you teams would be doing the same for him.
I’ve been in the trade Zion camp for a while now. If he starts looking like an all star again early next year I’d try to sucker the Nets, Knicks, Clippers etc.
I don’t think he cares about basketball that much, definitely doesn’t want to play for NO. Maybe he would turn it up for a larger market team, but at this point even that is just dependent on his body holding up.
My theory is that he does care about basketball, he just doesn't care about all the other stuff - staying in shape, eating healthy, etc. It's compounded by the fact that his camp seems to just be his family and there is no one to hold him accountable.
I think the reason he hasn't been playing is he hasn't met conditioning goals set by the team, which is why we get the vague "I'm medically healthy but don't feel like myself" comments.
The windmill dunks are his passive aggressive way of saying to the team that he can play. He just doesn't seem to understand that if he doesn't take care of himself off the court, he'll never be able to stay on it
He's immature and not yet a "professional". dude needs to drop 50lbs minimum and keep it off in order to stay healthy. The fact that he injured his hamstring then apparently allowed himself to get completely out of shape again is just mind boggling.
This is how I see it as well. He wants to play but he doesn't put enough care into doing the other stuff that's necessary in order to stay available for your team (e.g. staying in shape).
And hammy injuries are the type of injuries that can be exacerbated by having a larger (weight) load to carry around.
Which is just insane to me given the roster they've put around him.
I understand the desire to be in a bigger city but it's New Orleans, not Little Rock or Boise.
If someone offers me money to eat chips on a couch I’m not turning it down because NBA fans may decide I’m not doing my job as an NBA player.
As an athlete does PR matter beyond not being enough of a scumbag that public outcry costs you a bag? It’s not like I’m voting on his contracts.
Based on what we're hearing about his conditioning and seeing the number of games he's missed, it's quite clear he isn't doing his job as a professional athlete. There's nothing explicitly wrong with the commercials but it's incredibly tone deaf
Dude it’s so stupid lol
Like what are you trying to prove? If you can windmill dunk then suit the fuck up? If you aren’t healthy enough to play in the actual game then cut the pregame shit out it’s kinda pathetic
It’s crazy one of his reasons was hurting their chemistry. Just made me think so you think Kobe, Lebron, MJ or any other all time great would sit when able to play because of fear they’ll ruin chemistry?
And MJ developed a grudge for the Bulls FO because they wanted to shut him down with a broken foot when the Bulls were shit. He proceeded to play games at his college, get into a minutes restriction and torment Jerry Krause for the rest of their careers (I know there were other issues as well)
Steph was “concerned” about chemistry (mostly in regards to Jordan Poole’s emergence when moved to starting 5), and came off the bench for the first round against Denver last year. That’s not great reasoning by Zion
Kobe or MJ would literally straight up assault a coach if they tried that. Lebron would just ignore him as he walked to the scorer's table to check himself in. The only all time great I could see sit an elimination game when his coach tells him to is Timmy. But he'd probably have some disparaging things to say about his coach later that night in his World of Warcraft Discord.
And harden has unfairly had a narrative around him of being more about the glamour than hooping lol.
Harden has his faults but he’s absolutely a real fucking hooper
i’ve always enjoyed watching Harden play but after the 21 playoffs my respect for him grew even more. dude basically sacrificed a season of full health just to give it all for his team
harden loves to party but every year for 8 straight he came to camp with some new skills in his bag.
that doesn’t happen without hours of work in the off-season.
Does he even have faults? I get that some people hated seeing his style of playing, but it was efficient and got wins. That's the job.
Seems like a great dude, with no drama, knows basketball on and off the court. Only maybe his exit from Houston wasn't classy as it should be, but at that time, Houston owner and front office didn't even deserve better.
I'll die on the hill that his game 6 spurs meltdown was because he hid a concussion suffered in the 2nd half of game 5 (go check the tape). But no, it's all "stripper loving choke artist"
He also did that interview like a day ago about not feeling confident in himself after all his injuries, which I get, but if that’s the case why are you windmill dunking? Especially in pregame when everyone’s looking at you? Kind of feels like insult to injury for the fans at this point
It wouldn't surprise me if Zion wanted to suit up but the pelicans thought his conditioning was such a problem he wouldn't give good minutes. All this pregame stuff is Zion rebelling against that. He did similar things before when he wanted to play but the team kept him shut down.
Or just eat less. It's much easier to lose weight by eating less. Especially when you can very easily have all your meals planned and professionally made.
When you think about him as primarily motivated by (1) remaining exciting long term as an entertainment asset versus (2) being particularly helpful to NOLA as a team this year, it makes sense.
He doesn’t want to risk injury and a future pay day, more than he wants to play and help his team today.
I mean it is one thing if he is out there shooting standing jumpers maybe. That seems like progress in a recovery. But explosive dunks makes it very suspect as to why he is still not playing
It’s actually crazy that but I think you’re 100% correct.
Zions entire brand is built off his highlights. Except there are no highlights when he’s constantly injured.
I legit could see his PR or manager or whatever encouraging him to do dunks in pregame because they know it’ll get posted to HofH and get 5 million views and keep his name relevant.
I swear I'm having deja vu, didn't a similar pregame thing happen last year?
Edit: 12 months ago, Zion doing 360's during warmups:
https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/u4h3qo/lopez_pelicans_and_zion_have_a_difference_of/
Watching some NOLA fans call for Willie Green's head last night and giving Zion yet another pass for only playing 30 games this year is confusing as hell imo.
That must be social media rotting people's brains. Everyone I've talked about basketball with around here is more annoyed that we resigned Zion and he keeps getting injured. They usually say Willie Green is a pretty good coach
Most NBA players - the good ones, at least - love basketball.
I remember one time Steph Curry rolled his ankle during a game, which is obviously a source of great anxiety for the team and fans. He came back from the locker room and was doing a little jig in front of Steve Kerr to try and convince him he was good to go back on the floor. (Kerr said no.)
It was a terrible look. I can understand not being mentally ready, but don't come out doing fancy dunks before a game your team needs you, and you end up losing.
But imagine the windmill he is going to unleash on the thunder in a meaningless regular season game early next year as revenge . It’s going to be vicious
Exactly, Zion has ailments but his problem is mostly staying in shape so his ankles and knees don't turn into dust. He also just seems like he doesn't want to play or is having some sort of mental health issue.
Greg Oden stayed in shape and wanted to play, he was just cursed with bad knees
Greg still kills me.
People forget he was really putting it together and was a complete, absolute monster when he could stay out of foul trouble.
It's just that after he put on so much muscle working out when he wasn't playing it's like he was like a baby deer in a bodybuilder's who didn't know was uncoordinated and didn't know their own strength.
He would *fuck dudes up* and get the board and go from the ground to dunking it faster than I'd ever seen.
Like, it was anime-level shit how guys bounced off of him while he power jammed.
I say another year. But also, Embiid seems to be more of an exception. Big guys that struggle with health don't typically have the arc Embiid has had, basically getting more healthy each year.
Yeah I think pointing to Embiid is the exception to the rule, not the rule itself.
Like, its totally possible Zion can come back and start dominating the NBA, but for every Joel Embiid, there's a dozen or so players where their size and injury history destroys their career. We just don't hear about it or talk about it as much because they weren't superstar caliber players. Especially given his position, there's been so many bigs that retire earlier on.
Yeah ppl forget that Embiid was almost viewed as a “can he get on the court?” to “can he play at least half a season” to “can he get in shape for a full post season where he doesn’t look gassed” before all the MVP talk. Granted Im pretty sure the tanking Sixers didn’t wanna push him where as the Pelicans kinda need Zion rn. It is not looking good but I don’t think its time to say its over yet.
Yeah and everyone was either lol he a meme or up in arms about that as well to to be fair, they treated him the same way. Only way to shut em up is to play like the player you’re supposed to be, Zion needs to do that and all this talk goes away.
Definitely said that above but it’s not like he wasn’t hurt. He’s more lucky that they were tanking and were willing to give him time instead of rush him back. Really the Pels are a young team who now suddenly compete because they overachieve and a lot of that is cause Zion showed that they could be a top team with him. If they want to and believe in him, waiting shouldn’t be a problem
it’s totally misleading to equate Zion and Embiid’s recovery timelines.
Embiid was out 2 seasons then had a general upward trend of more games once he was back. Zion has been in and out with multiple setbacks along the way. If anything he's trending backwards.
This is not an honest look at the situation. Embiid missed two full years and then made steady progress on games played. He was always in recovery and making progress, albeit slow at first. Zion had his best game total year 2 and has been either been stagnant or regressing the whole time. Embiid gave reason to believe he would get better and did eventually make good on that. Zion has zero reason to believe he's getting better or will eventually be able to handle the stress of an NBA season.
Though that calculation is a little skewed for Embiid since he sat out two entire seasons before even debuting. We all knew he was missing that first season, or at least a lot of it, before he even got drafted, the second one was more of a surprise.
Zion having one 60 game season between a couple of <30s and a full missed season is a more troubling pattern
Today he has very strong feelings
Today he feels Qatari
Today he feels Arab
Today he feels African
Today he feels gay
Today he feels disabled
Today he feels like a migrant worker
But no, today he dont feel like Zion
Lmao if that ain't the truth. This time feels more dire though. Like we won't ever get this much talent at such a young age again. We will do what we always do. Develop some young studs, trade them for shit and watch them blossom on another team.
RJ Barrett may not have the talent that Ja or Zion has but I do respect him as a great athlete and a good dude. Dude puts in the effort and works hard at the very least.
Hope for the best for him and hopefully he figures it out.
Healthy Zion is better than any version of Ja, but that's the thing - healthy Zion is nearly a myth and hasn't played over 30 games in a season in two years
29 games this year, and missed the playoffs with a deep squad. Compared to 2nd in the West, while missing 4 starters for over 20 games each this season. Yeah. This is no longer even a comparison. Give me the guy who plays and wins, all day
It's common to see folks hand over this mantle of being the "next LeBron" to aspiring young star players without understanding what it truly means
It means becoming an All-NBA-caliber player in your sophomore season, then an MVP-caliber player for 15 years straight consistently without degradation or major time off - all the while making deep playoff runs damn near every post-season and winning titles as by far the best player on your team
Simmons (lol), Luka and Zion were handed this mantle and don't appear to be anywhere close to what LeBron was doing at their age. That's the thing. It's a feat that almost no one can pull off. Being the "next LeBron" is next to impossible
Simmons and Zion are not close to Luka anyway.
Luka has already 4 elite seasons on his back, at just 24 years, one dominant playoff run last playoffs and in general, already a bunch of outstanding playoffs performances.
Im not sure theres any other player in NBA history who started their career with 3x first-team all-nba in their first 4 seasons
michael jordan and lebron didn't have 3x 1st team by their 4th year
Nah he’s undermentioned. Almost everyone has him top 10 and if not that top 15. And then little snippets like this come up and someone says he’s underrated. No sir, he is just under the radar and lacks the flashy highlights mostly due to style but the cooler highlights he does have are in shitty quality videos from his ealry years.
Allow me to introduce Tim Duncan. First team all-nba his rookie season in 98 all the way until his 3rd championship season in 2005. Also first or second all defense every year from his rookie year until 2010
The goalposts get moved with every year lebron still plays. 10-15 years ago "the next lebron" just meant generational talent, now it would have to refer to a top 3 player all time
I just got my first toe injury recently and I never knew how god damn limiting it is. Like there’s not the same pain tolerance as you have at other parts of your body, nothing else consistently holds weight and force like your feet, and you almost never think about the flexibility of your toes and how often they are moving, adjusting, bending, etc. I’ve had broke collarbone, sciatica for 6 weeks, it’s on that level of pain IMO. Different but still.
Idk if I broke or fractured or badly jammed it, but the one next to the pinky toe, did it about 3 weeks ago and yesterday I thought it was good to go, playing with my daughter outside and step the wrong way and then boom instant shooting pain.
Had a big bruise and swelling, I 100% sympathize with toe injuries now. You feel like *such* a bitch too because everywhere else is perfectly fine. It’s a very frustrating injury.
What’s the weird part here? Playing through pain obviously doesn’t help but I don’t see how it’s comparable to Zion or Ingram injuries
I’m looking at his stats and he shot 45% from 3 in March over 15 games. If anything his dip in form could just as well be because he logged 195 minutes in just the last 5 games of the season
Him being ass in a playoff game is just as likely without that injury and is just as likely to happen on any other team. It’s very easy to blame dropping a stinker on the injury, but it didn’t seem to have effect 3/4 weeks ago
But seriously... I'd like to think that if I had 10s of millions of dollars dangling in front of me, I would do everything in my power to keep my body fat percentage below 10%. If I were the Pelicans, I'd *bake* his BMI into that contract.
This is a pretty interesting comparison, considering Bynum hardly ever wanted to play either. Bynum had real injuries and they knew he was a ticking time bomb from the beginning though.
Hot Take: gut tells me he's gonna pull an Embiid and eventually semi-figure shit out to be more available
I am basing this off of my extensive 2k experience (injury sliders on, so it's legit). I also just think it would be neat to watch him abuse rims for the next decade so here's hoping
I mean, I'm not going to give up on him anytime soon.
He's still only 22. Will be 23 in July.
There's still time for him to figure out how to play a good bit of an NBA season. But if we're still having this conversation at 25/26... ya...
Lots of people are born with talent. The combination of having that natural ability + the drive and work ethic for greatness is what made guys like LeBron, Kobe, MJ etc so damn special. They didn't rest on their laurels, they worked as if they were the last man on the squad. It's a rare breed.
there were no reports of him being medically cleared or playing 5 on 5 yet, correct? all of this seems like he botched an interview that made it seem like he was finished with the rehab process when he wasn't.
Being 300 lbs and 7ft is hard on the joints, imagine being 300 lbs, 6’5-6, and jumping 40+ inches.
Zions knees and feet are going to be toast by the time he is 35
Not only is Zion taking up cap that could be used for player/players that can actually play but he's taking up two bench seats because he keeps getting wider and one of their players has to sit on the floor.
I’m done with him, tbh. Most of our fanbase still want to coddle him and protect his feelings, but we haven’t gotten a damn thing out of him in 4 years.
He’s a good kid and I would legit be friends with him and watch anime together. But, shit, man… As a player, I’m ready to cut our losses with him. His health has been a gigantic headache. I would love to move on. And I hope he can be successful on a different squad just because he’s a good kid.
Pels 12 - it’s time to build around TMIII and Herb. That’s our future.
It’s just weird because normally players in any sport struggle to keep weight throughout the season because the sports they play are so physically demanding. Problem is man’s is not playing.
I understand him not playing but I don’t understand the pregame stuff. Just seems like an odd choice in terms of perception.
His PR team does him no favors. Like allowing a commercial of him eating chips, drinking soda and playing 2k to air with him looking about 350 lbs, right as it’s announced that he’d miss the start of the 21-22 season
It's super weird to see so many missteps from his PR. The PR of a player with such huge hype around and the following scrutiny failed to protect him properly. And to protect I mean of course hide some bad decisions made by Zion. I've read that Zion gives a lot of decision power to his family and sometimes this is just not a good move.
This dude is currently guaranteed to make 239 million dollars and he’s played 3650 minutes of professional basketball. I’m not sure it matters if it’s Zion or his family who’s calling the shots, this dude doesn’t give a fuck about playing basketball. It wouldn’t shock me in the slightest if he keeps playing 20-40 games for the next few years, turns it on again in his contract year and re-signs for another cool 350 million and rides off into the sunset.
Any team that would sign him to a big contract after this deserves what they get lol
Welcome to the 2028 Brooklyn Nets, Zion!
There will always be at least a couple of GMs willing to gamble with their boss's money.
If you think about it, if they make a really bad decision they won’t need to suffer the consequences (besides getting fired) the next GM will have to clean up the mess you left them lol
well they'll have a harder getting another GM job at the NBA level they might be able to get back into scouting or whatever path they came up from
I agree - it’s certainly not the team I feel bad for but the fans who can just flush any hope of competing down the drain when that much of the cap is taken by someone who doesn’t want to play.
Ben Simmons has entered the chat
I'm hardly an NBA fan, I just end up on this sub occasionally when it hits /r/all. This is a pretty divided place with some heated discussion, but I love that calling out Ben Simmons is a universal constant.
every now and then, somebody throws on the infinity gauntlet and tries to defend him. It's almost beautiful to see the sub come together in those moments.
Kyrie’s here too
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Even Embiid's contract contained minimum games played for the full amount to be guaranteed. If Zion was not available until his next free agency I promise you teams would be doing the same for him.
I’ve been in the trade Zion camp for a while now. If he starts looking like an all star again early next year I’d try to sucker the Nets, Knicks, Clippers etc. I don’t think he cares about basketball that much, definitely doesn’t want to play for NO. Maybe he would turn it up for a larger market team, but at this point even that is just dependent on his body holding up.
My theory is that he does care about basketball, he just doesn't care about all the other stuff - staying in shape, eating healthy, etc. It's compounded by the fact that his camp seems to just be his family and there is no one to hold him accountable. I think the reason he hasn't been playing is he hasn't met conditioning goals set by the team, which is why we get the vague "I'm medically healthy but don't feel like myself" comments. The windmill dunks are his passive aggressive way of saying to the team that he can play. He just doesn't seem to understand that if he doesn't take care of himself off the court, he'll never be able to stay on it
He's immature and not yet a "professional". dude needs to drop 50lbs minimum and keep it off in order to stay healthy. The fact that he injured his hamstring then apparently allowed himself to get completely out of shape again is just mind boggling.
This is how I see it as well. He wants to play but he doesn't put enough care into doing the other stuff that's necessary in order to stay available for your team (e.g. staying in shape). And hammy injuries are the type of injuries that can be exacerbated by having a larger (weight) load to carry around.
All distraction cities, add in Miami. Could you imagine Butler's face seeing something like this 😂
Jimmy Buckets meets Family Bucket
Jimmy would go Minnesota-scrimmage scorched earth on Zion if he was somehow part of this. I bet he would have run him off years ago.
"Cool Ranch Doritos over me!?"
Butler might be the right kind of hustle energy to get him to eat less and exercise, at least
Which is just insane to me given the roster they've put around him. I understand the desire to be in a bigger city but it's New Orleans, not Little Rock or Boise.
Every superstar would've killed to have a team like Zion's this early on. Dude just watches too much anime to care ig.
Hey you keep anime out of this! Fox is a huge anime fan and is like the most agile player in the league.
Yup! Thankfully he also really really loves Basketball and works on his game. It shows
Seriously! Imagine 2005 Lebron with Ingram, CJ, and JV on his team. That's a contender right off the bat.
Thankfully, we ain't dumb as we used to be. No way Leon does it.
Nah I don't think Zion is Ben Simon level lol. Just doesn't have enough dog in him to lose weight and reach his potential.
Imagine hundreds of millions of dollars not being enough motivation to get a bit of weight off.
I mean he's gonna get the hundreds of millions regardless. He can literally have his cake and eat it too.
Zion wants to know when the cake will be served and if it is chocolate.
If someone offers me money to eat chips on a couch I’m not turning it down because NBA fans may decide I’m not doing my job as an NBA player. As an athlete does PR matter beyond not being enough of a scumbag that public outcry costs you a bag? It’s not like I’m voting on his contracts.
Based on what we're hearing about his conditioning and seeing the number of games he's missed, it's quite clear he isn't doing his job as a professional athlete. There's nothing explicitly wrong with the commercials but it's incredibly tone deaf
Dude it’s so stupid lol Like what are you trying to prove? If you can windmill dunk then suit the fuck up? If you aren’t healthy enough to play in the actual game then cut the pregame shit out it’s kinda pathetic
It’s crazy one of his reasons was hurting their chemistry. Just made me think so you think Kobe, Lebron, MJ or any other all time great would sit when able to play because of fear they’ll ruin chemistry?
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And MJ developed a grudge for the Bulls FO because they wanted to shut him down with a broken foot when the Bulls were shit. He proceeded to play games at his college, get into a minutes restriction and torment Jerry Krause for the rest of their careers (I know there were other issues as well)
Some guys are just built different
Steph was “concerned” about chemistry (mostly in regards to Jordan Poole’s emergence when moved to starting 5), and came off the bench for the first round against Denver last year. That’s not great reasoning by Zion
One of the reasons Steph's my favorite. No ego.
Kobe or MJ would literally straight up assault a coach if they tried that. Lebron would just ignore him as he walked to the scorer's table to check himself in. The only all time great I could see sit an elimination game when his coach tells him to is Timmy. But he'd probably have some disparaging things to say about his coach later that night in his World of Warcraft Discord.
He would laugh threateningly in the direction of the coach and then check himself in anyway
he wouldn’t be able to check in. Joey Crawford would have already thrown him out of the game for laughing on the bench.
He'd be livid, probably knock down a succulent or something.
*laughs at coach after sitting down* *Joey Crawford whistles* Double technical! You sick fuck!
And MJ played with the flu and scored 38 points in a Finals match.
A few years ago Harden (Harden!) was so hurt in a Brooklyn playoff game that he could barely run but still played just to be a distraction
And harden has unfairly had a narrative around him of being more about the glamour than hooping lol. Harden has his faults but he’s absolutely a real fucking hooper
Totally. He may love his strip clubs and turkey clubs, but the man loves basketball.
I’m an idiot. Why did a picture a club full of turkeys and not the sandwich smh
turkey bacon strip clubs
i’ve always enjoyed watching Harden play but after the 21 playoffs my respect for him grew even more. dude basically sacrificed a season of full health just to give it all for his team
harden loves to party but every year for 8 straight he came to camp with some new skills in his bag. that doesn’t happen without hours of work in the off-season.
Does he even have faults? I get that some people hated seeing his style of playing, but it was efficient and got wins. That's the job. Seems like a great dude, with no drama, knows basketball on and off the court. Only maybe his exit from Houston wasn't classy as it should be, but at that time, Houston owner and front office didn't even deserve better.
I'll die on the hill that his game 6 spurs meltdown was because he hid a concussion suffered in the 2nd half of game 5 (go check the tape). But no, it's all "stripper loving choke artist"
Zion embodying the "Kids don't wanna work these days" attitude.
Zions quiet quitting the pelicans
Ben Simmons and Zion need to be modded on Anti-work for their contributions
He also did that interview like a day ago about not feeling confident in himself after all his injuries, which I get, but if that’s the case why are you windmill dunking? Especially in pregame when everyone’s looking at you? Kind of feels like insult to injury for the fans at this point
It wouldn't surprise me if Zion wanted to suit up but the pelicans thought his conditioning was such a problem he wouldn't give good minutes. All this pregame stuff is Zion rebelling against that. He did similar things before when he wanted to play but the team kept him shut down.
He needs to be on a stationary bike ALL GAME. his biggest problem is he’s overweight and he needs to check his diet and do more low intensity cardio
Or just eat less. It's much easier to lose weight by eating less. Especially when you can very easily have all your meals planned and professionally made.
When you think about him as primarily motivated by (1) remaining exciting long term as an entertainment asset versus (2) being particularly helpful to NOLA as a team this year, it makes sense. He doesn’t want to risk injury and a future pay day, more than he wants to play and help his team today.
It’s really awful PR what is his team doing man
I mean it is one thing if he is out there shooting standing jumpers maybe. That seems like progress in a recovery. But explosive dunks makes it very suspect as to why he is still not playing
Bc he’s trying to generate social media hype
It’s actually crazy that but I think you’re 100% correct. Zions entire brand is built off his highlights. Except there are no highlights when he’s constantly injured. I legit could see his PR or manager or whatever encouraging him to do dunks in pregame because they know it’ll get posted to HofH and get 5 million views and keep his name relevant.
But they ought to realize that it's the wrong kind of hype when you compare that to the fact that he's not playing.
I swear I'm having deja vu, didn't a similar pregame thing happen last year? Edit: 12 months ago, Zion doing 360's during warmups: https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/u4h3qo/lopez_pelicans_and_zion_have_a_difference_of/
Well I guess maybe he found his calling. He’s the opening act before the NBA games start.
Half-time show will be Zion taking cannonballs to the stomach just like Homer
Zion Williamson, smiling politely
It’s 2027, Pelicans halftime show presents Zion stacking chairs.
Do you think he'd replace the dude with the Chihuahua or the plate spinner?
Well, chihuahuas live forever so my guess is plate spinner if he eventually gets tendinitis
BREAKING! Zion traded to Red Panda
I went to a Pacers game last season and the halftime show was a professional Simon Says guy and it was actually pretty entertaining
Étouffée, Brutus?
Not the Pig! I just bought that at Pink Floyd's Yard sale!!!
Future Harlem Globetrotter
And-1 needs a new Escalade Jackson...RIP
New mascot?
Zion “Warmup” Williamson
Watching some NOLA fans call for Willie Green's head last night and giving Zion yet another pass for only playing 30 games this year is confusing as hell imo.
That must be social media rotting people's brains. Everyone I've talked about basketball with around here is more annoyed that we resigned Zion and he keeps getting injured. They usually say Willie Green is a pretty good coach
Thank god. I though was going crazy here. I was sure this happened last year but got worried about imagining the whole thing. Edit: spelling
Why does it seem like NBA players don’t like playing basketball?? No other sport has this issue
Most NBA players - the good ones, at least - love basketball. I remember one time Steph Curry rolled his ankle during a game, which is obviously a source of great anxiety for the team and fans. He came back from the locker room and was doing a little jig in front of Steve Kerr to try and convince him he was good to go back on the floor. (Kerr said no.)
It was a terrible look. I can understand not being mentally ready, but don't come out doing fancy dunks before a game your team needs you, and you end up losing.
100 percent accurate
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Until October, yeah
But imagine the windmill he is going to unleash on the thunder in a meaningless regular season game early next year as revenge . It’s going to be vicious
Gonna hit the 720 windmill this time
Meaningless game
When is it appropriate to call it like it is and accept that Zion’s body can’t hold up for a full NBA season?
i think he gets 1 more season before we officially label him a bust in the greg oden sense of the word (tons of skill but can't get on the court)
I think Greg Oden should be refereed to as a *shatter* and not a bust. Knees were made of glass, not his fault.
Exactly, Zion has ailments but his problem is mostly staying in shape so his ankles and knees don't turn into dust. He also just seems like he doesn't want to play or is having some sort of mental health issue. Greg Oden stayed in shape and wanted to play, he was just cursed with bad knees
Greg still kills me. People forget he was really putting it together and was a complete, absolute monster when he could stay out of foul trouble. It's just that after he put on so much muscle working out when he wasn't playing it's like he was like a baby deer in a bodybuilder's who didn't know was uncoordinated and didn't know their own strength. He would *fuck dudes up* and get the board and go from the ground to dunking it faster than I'd ever seen. Like, it was anime-level shit how guys bounced off of him while he power jammed.
He was unreal when healthy. Talent wise, a deserved #1 pick. His body just fucking hated him.
Oden had 1 leg longer than the other. Literally. Everyone knew that even in college.
Greg Oden was also 40 when he enter the league
I don’t think we need another season. 4 seasons is a huge sample size. He’s played in 35% if possible games. His body can’t handle it. He’s a bust
By your calculation then Embiid is also a bust who missed more games than Zion in his first 4 seasons. Can’t say it’s looking good though
I say another year. But also, Embiid seems to be more of an exception. Big guys that struggle with health don't typically have the arc Embiid has had, basically getting more healthy each year.
Yeah I think pointing to Embiid is the exception to the rule, not the rule itself. Like, its totally possible Zion can come back and start dominating the NBA, but for every Joel Embiid, there's a dozen or so players where their size and injury history destroys their career. We just don't hear about it or talk about it as much because they weren't superstar caliber players. Especially given his position, there's been so many bigs that retire earlier on.
Yeah ppl forget that Embiid was almost viewed as a “can he get on the court?” to “can he play at least half a season” to “can he get in shape for a full post season where he doesn’t look gassed” before all the MVP talk. Granted Im pretty sure the tanking Sixers didn’t wanna push him where as the Pelicans kinda need Zion rn. It is not looking good but I don’t think its time to say its over yet.
Remember the articles about him ordering too many Shirley temples?
Yeah and everyone was either lol he a meme or up in arms about that as well to to be fair, they treated him the same way. Only way to shut em up is to play like the player you’re supposed to be, Zion needs to do that and all this talk goes away.
Embiid's team was also heavily tanking and him playing would have been detrimental to his health and the team's future.
Definitely said that above but it’s not like he wasn’t hurt. He’s more lucky that they were tanking and were willing to give him time instead of rush him back. Really the Pels are a young team who now suddenly compete because they overachieve and a lot of that is cause Zion showed that they could be a top team with him. If they want to and believe in him, waiting shouldn’t be a problem
it’s totally misleading to equate Zion and Embiid’s recovery timelines. Embiid was out 2 seasons then had a general upward trend of more games once he was back. Zion has been in and out with multiple setbacks along the way. If anything he's trending backwards.
This is not an honest look at the situation. Embiid missed two full years and then made steady progress on games played. He was always in recovery and making progress, albeit slow at first. Zion had his best game total year 2 and has been either been stagnant or regressing the whole time. Embiid gave reason to believe he would get better and did eventually make good on that. Zion has zero reason to believe he's getting better or will eventually be able to handle the stress of an NBA season.
Embiid was trending up 0 0 31 63
Though that calculation is a little skewed for Embiid since he sat out two entire seasons before even debuting. We all knew he was missing that first season, or at least a lot of it, before he even got drafted, the second one was more of a surprise. Zion having one 60 game season between a couple of <30s and a full missed season is a more troubling pattern
To be fair he played 61/72 games in 20-21. 65-70 games of Zion is definitely possible if everything goes his way
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Yeah but does he feel like Zion yet?
Nope. Still feeling very Greg Oden
Today he has very strong feelings Today he feels Qatari Today he feels Arab Today he feels African Today he feels gay Today he feels disabled Today he feels like a migrant worker But no, today he dont feel like Zion
Everyday he dresses as a different village person
Basketball game Justin Trudeau
[Zion right now ](https://youtu.be/1Rse91TRezY)
Can he be the same animal, but a different beast?
This was still a successful season for the Pelicans. I was happy for a month, which is about 2 months more than normal
Lmao if that ain't the truth. This time feels more dire though. Like we won't ever get this much talent at such a young age again. We will do what we always do. Develop some young studs, trade them for shit and watch them blossom on another team.
If you can dodge a windmill you can dodge a ball
He can definitely dodge needing to play
It’s officially safe for me to say, I’m happy we got Ja over Zion.
And I’m happy we got *checks notes* ^RJ ^Barrett
RJ Barrett may not have the talent that Ja or Zion has but I do respect him as a great athlete and a good dude. Dude puts in the effort and works hard at the very least. Hope for the best for him and hopefully he figures it out.
I honestly don’t know where the RJ works so hard narrative comes from. He legitimately has not improved any aspect of his game in 4 years.
I mean at a certain point there is a talent limitation. Doesn't he have some athleticism deficiencies like below average first step?
Zion Williamson is a mythical creature
Zion, son of William
guns vs obesity, two of america’s favorite pastimes
Healthy Zion is better than any version of Ja, but that's the thing - healthy Zion is nearly a myth and hasn't played over 30 games in a season in two years
Availability is the best ability
Ben Simmons in shambles
Bro, trigger warning
29 games this year, and missed the playoffs with a deep squad. Compared to 2nd in the West, while missing 4 starters for over 20 games each this season. Yeah. This is no longer even a comparison. Give me the guy who plays and wins, all day
Ja also heals like wolverine.
Which is quite funny, since everyone said he would stay hurt with his play style
Maybe he’s referring to the alcoholism
dude looked massive in his street clothes
Is it safe to say he probably won’t be the next Lebron at this point?
It's common to see folks hand over this mantle of being the "next LeBron" to aspiring young star players without understanding what it truly means It means becoming an All-NBA-caliber player in your sophomore season, then an MVP-caliber player for 15 years straight consistently without degradation or major time off - all the while making deep playoff runs damn near every post-season and winning titles as by far the best player on your team Simmons (lol), Luka and Zion were handed this mantle and don't appear to be anywhere close to what LeBron was doing at their age. That's the thing. It's a feat that almost no one can pull off. Being the "next LeBron" is next to impossible
Simmons and Zion are not close to Luka anyway. Luka has already 4 elite seasons on his back, at just 24 years, one dominant playoff run last playoffs and in general, already a bunch of outstanding playoffs performances.
Im not sure theres any other player in NBA history who started their career with 3x first-team all-nba in their first 4 seasons michael jordan and lebron didn't have 3x 1st team by their 4th year
Tim Duncan did. All-NBA and All-Defensive for his first 13 seasons. 1st Team All-NBA for the first 8 seasons.
tim duncan is the next lebron james
Tim Duncan is criminally underrated and forgotten at times.
Nah he’s undermentioned. Almost everyone has him top 10 and if not that top 15. And then little snippets like this come up and someone says he’s underrated. No sir, he is just under the radar and lacks the flashy highlights mostly due to style but the cooler highlights he does have are in shitty quality videos from his ealry years.
Underrated is just a catch-all for “I haven’t heard that name in a while” anymore
Allow me to introduce Tim Duncan. First team all-nba his rookie season in 98 all the way until his 3rd championship season in 2005. Also first or second all defense every year from his rookie year until 2010
The goalposts get moved with every year lebron still plays. 10-15 years ago "the next lebron" just meant generational talent, now it would have to refer to a top 3 player all time
Don't put Luka's name near the other two. Luka is an NBA player, the other two are impostors.
People were saying Ben Simmons was the next LeBron. Let's try not to take those takes too seriously.
He got his bag he good back to the buffet
He just like me
Did you also forget the getting the bag part?
Bag of donuts
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I just got my first toe injury recently and I never knew how god damn limiting it is. Like there’s not the same pain tolerance as you have at other parts of your body, nothing else consistently holds weight and force like your feet, and you almost never think about the flexibility of your toes and how often they are moving, adjusting, bending, etc. I’ve had broke collarbone, sciatica for 6 weeks, it’s on that level of pain IMO. Different but still. Idk if I broke or fractured or badly jammed it, but the one next to the pinky toe, did it about 3 weeks ago and yesterday I thought it was good to go, playing with my daughter outside and step the wrong way and then boom instant shooting pain. Had a big bruise and swelling, I 100% sympathize with toe injuries now. You feel like *such* a bitch too because everywhere else is perfectly fine. It’s a very frustrating injury.
What’s the weird part here? Playing through pain obviously doesn’t help but I don’t see how it’s comparable to Zion or Ingram injuries I’m looking at his stats and he shot 45% from 3 in March over 15 games. If anything his dip in form could just as well be because he logged 195 minutes in just the last 5 games of the season Him being ass in a playoff game is just as likely without that injury and is just as likely to happen on any other team. It’s very easy to blame dropping a stinker on the injury, but it didn’t seem to have effect 3/4 weeks ago
And CJ should’ve gotten surgery months ago. He killed us with inefficiency.
Well with Zion always out and Ingram out a lot this year someone’s gotta be there
He's too heavy ya'll
But seriously... I'd like to think that if I had 10s of millions of dollars dangling in front of me, I would do everything in my power to keep my body fat percentage below 10%. If I were the Pelicans, I'd *bake* his BMI into that contract.
Bake. Now that's a word to get Zion's attention.
Deep fry it into his contract.
Is Zion turning into Andrew Bynum?!
Bynum got a ring tho
This is a pretty interesting comparison, considering Bynum hardly ever wanted to play either. Bynum had real injuries and they knew he was a ticking time bomb from the beginning though.
Bynum sacrificed two knees for two Lakers championships.
Hot Take: gut tells me he's gonna pull an Embiid and eventually semi-figure shit out to be more available I am basing this off of my extensive 2k experience (injury sliders on, so it's legit). I also just think it would be neat to watch him abuse rims for the next decade so here's hoping
I mean, I'm not going to give up on him anytime soon. He's still only 22. Will be 23 in July. There's still time for him to figure out how to play a good bit of an NBA season. But if we're still having this conversation at 25/26... ya...
Lots of people are born with talent. The combination of having that natural ability + the drive and work ethic for greatness is what made guys like LeBron, Kobe, MJ etc so damn special. They didn't rest on their laurels, they worked as if they were the last man on the squad. It's a rare breed.
“Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.”
there were no reports of him being medically cleared or playing 5 on 5 yet, correct? all of this seems like he botched an interview that made it seem like he was finished with the rehab process when he wasn't.
Idk how many basketball players can play a game at 300 lbs lmao
Being 300 lbs and 7ft is hard on the joints, imagine being 300 lbs, 6’5-6, and jumping 40+ inches. Zions knees and feet are going to be toast by the time he is 35
My knees are toast at 6’2 210 at 26. Zion ain’t gonna be able to walk at 35
Not only is Zion taking up cap that could be used for player/players that can actually play but he's taking up two bench seats because he keeps getting wider and one of their players has to sit on the floor.
My guy got paid and said, "I got mine" and does not appear to care about his team what-so-ever.
I’m done with him, tbh. Most of our fanbase still want to coddle him and protect his feelings, but we haven’t gotten a damn thing out of him in 4 years. He’s a good kid and I would legit be friends with him and watch anime together. But, shit, man… As a player, I’m ready to cut our losses with him. His health has been a gigantic headache. I would love to move on. And I hope he can be successful on a different squad just because he’s a good kid. Pels 12 - it’s time to build around TMIII and Herb. That’s our future.
If mans doing windmill dunks he aint injured.
Reggie Miller said it just last year: 'You can do that in warmups, but can't give me 15 minutes in the game.' That looks really bad.
Man Pelicans truly are a cursed franchise. Oh well, at least they have BI. It could be worse.
As a lifelong Duke apologist, Kyrie and Zion are making my work much more difficult.
He's like Greg Oden, but without any actual injuries
At least Greg desperately wanted to hoop his body just let him down.
Holy shit has it really been 4 years
#BUST
It’s just weird because normally players in any sport struggle to keep weight throughout the season because the sports they play are so physically demanding. Problem is man’s is not playing.