Memphis Grizzlies’ rookie Ziaire Williams is trying to get some weight and make his body NBA-ready after concerns raised during the 2021 Summer League. Williams, who played with LeBron James’ son Bronny James in high school, is expected to be an exciting player in the league, but he needs to work on some stuff first.
As stated before, his body weight has resulted in a major source of concern for the Grizzlies, who put him on a 5000-calorie diet to get more muscle and be ready to face bigger players in the association.
Via FanSided’s Beale Street Bears:
The Grizzlies’ rookie in Ziaire Williams has come to Beale Street to play basketball. Even so, his basketball has been overshadowed by his diet in just a matter of two games. Here’s why.
During the broadcast, Grizzlies’ commentator Pete Pranica mentioned the fact that Williams was on a 5,000-calorie diet. This is jarring, as the average male eats under 2,500 calories in a single day. Williams’ diet is double that.
This started three months ago, but the diet has gotten more attention in recent times, as NBA fans found out Williams’ plan. Twitter user @bballbreakdown shared a pic of Williams’ current diet, which raised a lot of eyebrows around the NBA community.
This is what they’re suggesting Zaire Smith eat to gain weight: pic.twitter.com/HpHMrmzNqI
— BBALLBREAKDOWN (@bballbreakdown) November 21, 2021
Some said those weren’t 5,000 calories, others reacted to the fact that he’d take in a lot of dairies, joking that he’d lose a lot of those calories in the bathroom.
https://twitter.com/brp2123/status/1462253299936153600
Eat 2 Big Macs + 5 pancakes for breakfast, w/ 1 bottle maple syrup for pancakes, any leftover syrup is poured in your coffee. Lunch is 6 pcs KFC, w/ 2 large cups of gravy, any leftover gravy drink up, 2 porterhouses for dinner. Krispy Kremes for snacks. Don’t forget to See Doc
— Bert (@Bertbalt) November 21, 2021
Lmao, that's not even close to 5000 calories
— Oregon NAFO Fella (@Sociopath_Pete) November 21, 2021
Are we sure this isnt what they are suggesting Zion to lose weight? This ain't even 2k calories
— Deyvi 🏀 (@deyvi_t22) November 21, 2021
i don’t think this adds up to 5k unless “ice cream” means “the entire gallon”
— Rick Masters (@nedflinders) November 21, 2021
Im so confused. Is lunch supposed to be like salad with ground beef or like just ground beef and salad
— Kyle Lowry Fan (@Geoffreyggggg) November 21, 2021
Why would you be eating low fat milk for weight gain?
— Mathew 🇳🇿 (@MatNewton) November 21, 2021
https://twitter.com/Glassfacers/status/1462242025886081025
I eat more than this…. maybe that's why i can't lose weight
— Joel Lava (@joellava) November 21, 2021
Doing some math… that’s about 2500 calories in ice cream. Sign me up.
— Joshua PD (@Josh_in_DaNang) November 21, 2021
Half of it is gonna be lost from shitting cuz of that dairy
— ❤️🙏🏾 (@wuezo01) November 21, 2021
There's no way this is 5K calories.
If anything, he'd lose more weight on this exercise.
— Negro Libre 🇳🇬 🇺🇸 (@NegroLibre1) November 21, 2021
https://twitter.com/AndrewLowman7/status/1462243414091522050https://twitter.com/alochico/status/1462243099158228993
Pizza works best with me.
— Jeff Ulrich (@jeffsulrich) November 21, 2021
that can't be 5000 calories
— NO JOKE (@JokerOfQueens) November 21, 2021
that's like 1600 cals
— The 45th President committed TREASON on Jan. 6 (@schencka1) November 21, 2021
https://twitter.com/HoosierNative86/status/1462241497055649797
That’s ~2800 + ice cream
— Adam (@slowtrain22) November 21, 2021
https://twitter.com/seankaner/status/1462406630839132163
Williams is really skinny and we’ve previously seen skinny players do good in the league. Kevin Durant, Brandon Ingram, Ja Morant, and others have thrived despite their slim physics. Yet, Memphis feels their rookie shooting guard/small forward needs to add more muscle to be more impactful.
Ziaire was listed 6-8, weighing 186 pounds in the Summer League.
