Zion Williamson is arguably one of the most hyped players to enter the league. Before he was drafted into the NBA, many were already labeling him the next LeBron James.
At the time, similar to LeBron, Zion also possessed freakish athleticism and the ability to dominate his opponents. But unlike LeBron, Zion is yet to make a valuable impact in the NBA. For starters, he has been unhealthy for most of the time that he has spent in the league.
If he can stay healthy, he probably has the potential to be considered one of the best young players in the NBA. The Pelicans seem to believe that as they recently handed Williamson a huge contract extension. Now that they have secured their star player for a long-term deal, the next step is to get him help.
While the current core of the Pelicans with Brandon Ingram, CJ McCollum, and Zion Williamson is good enough to make it to the playoffs, that might be their ceiling as of now.
NBA analyst Chris ‘Mad Dog’ Russo believes one way to improve that is to trade Ingram for none other than Kevin Durant and pair him up with a healthy Zion.
.@MadDogUnleashed thinks the Pelicans could put together the best package for Kevin Durant 👀 pic.twitter.com/12WeFGLfES
— First Take (@FirstTake) July 19, 2022
“The team that I could see where [Durant] would be somewhat reasonable about going there, and the Nets could get a big player back and build their team around, and it’s out of the conference, which I think is a factor, are the Pelicans. Because they can get Ingram back and they can build their team around Ingram and he would play in New Orleans. I got a lot of young players and I got Williamson and they could be very very good. … You put Durant on that team with a healthy Zion, that team could be very dangerous.”
While this trade sounds good on paper for both teams, there is just one issue. It was earlier reported that the Pelicans are reluctant to include Brandon Ingram in any trade package for KD.
Unless the Pelicans change their mind at the last minute, the probability of this trade happening is very low. But if this trade indeed finalizes, the Pelicans could become an instant contender for the NBA Championship.
