Jeff Teague isn’t holding back when it comes to Zion Williamson. After the Pelicans star recently spoke about feeling better than ever and earning the team’s trust, Teague fired back on his podcast, calling the press conference “the dumbest” he’s ever heard and blasting Zion for only now taking conditioning seriously.
“This is probably the dumbest press conference I’ve heard in my life,” said Teague on Club 520. “All of this is because of you. You choose to eat, be out of shape, all that. Now, all of a sudden, it’s a contract year, probably looking for an extension. All of a sudden, he’s in shape, and he said they believe in me. Fool, they gave you a max deal. They’ve been believing in you. They had to put a lot of options in his contract because you didn’t believe in you. That’s dumb as hell, that press conference is dumb.”
Williamson was once viewed as the top basketball prospect in the world, but his career has been in decline after years of struggling with conditioning, availability, and consistency. While many of the issues have been unavoidable, Williamson’s poor conditioning has only exacerbated matters, and Teague says he doesn’t deserve credit for finally putting in the work required to stay in shape.
“Now you decide to lock in and do what pro athletes do,” added Teague. “Take care of themselves. Hell no, I’m off that, I ain’t a fan no more. You get paid damn near $40 million a year to be in shape. I ain’t trying to sound like an old head. It’s just like you do a press conference and say, ‘I feel the best I ever felt since college.’ You chose to feel that way. You could have been like this for three years. I ain’t hating. Get all the bread you can. C’mon, bro, you were the one damn near 300 pounds.”
Williamson has become the biggest case study for what happens when work ethic doesn’t live up to natural talent. For years, the two-time All-Star has been frequently unavailable to his team, and he was even suspended by the Pelicans for being late to team events. Now, the sentiment across the league was that he might never live up to his potential.
This season, however, Zion said things will be different. Not only is he healthy, but Williamson has also trimmed down, and it’s got him feeling better than he has in years. The question is, will it be enough to move the Pelicans into playoff contention?
With averages of 24.6 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 5.3 assists per game last season, only time will tell what comes next, but not everyone is ready to give him the benefit of the doubt. For folks like Teague, Zion’s struggles are self-inflicted due to a lack of commitment and self-control.
To some, his words of optimism ring hollow because they don’t erase years of inconsistency. Fortunately, this season is a chance for Zion to flip that perception and finally prove that his commitment matches his talent. If he truly has turned the corner, he’ll silence critics like Teague the only way that matters: by dominating on the court and staying there.
