At the start of the Zion Williamson era, there was much optimism and excitement about the future for New Orleans basketball.
Hailed as the best prospect since LeBron James, Zion’s arrival was supposed to bring better days for the franchise.
Instead, it seems that only more drama has arisen.
In a report by Christian Clark of NOLA.com, some details behind Zion’s troubling tenure in New Orleans got revealed, mostly regarding the relationship between him and the front office.
“Throughout his rookie season, Williamson had grown increasingly frustrated with the Pelicans for the number of hoops they required him to jump through to return from the knee injury he suffered in the preseason. The team initially provided a return-to-play timetable of six to eight weeks, but it took more than three months for Williamson to get back on the floor. When he was finally given the thumbs up to play, he was placed on “burst” limits, which he detested. The way Williamson’s return was handled caused significant tension between him and the team’s medical staff, sources said.”
A mysterious (and anonymous) NBA Redditor added to the report, taking a shot at Williamson for how he’s handled his first few seasons with the franchise.
Christian Clark’s reporting on how shitty Griffin’s tenure here has been, and how many in the organization have turned on him.
Griffin basically has no relationship with Zion and they don’t really speak.
Zion showed up fat from the day 1 of summer league after we drafted him, and turned on the organization with how cautious they were over his knee injury. Showed up even fatter to the bubble and and we hid another injury at the request of his family.
Now the guy who’s been fat for his entire NBA career, won’t show up to any of the team’s offseason workouts together, ghosted BI and Vinson back in Phoenix, was in Vegas for summer league, didn’t meet up with his teammates and has no relationship with the front office.
I’ve said it before but it almost impossible for these past two years to have gone any worse. A fraud POBO. A franchise player who’s been fat or injured for his entire time here, his psycho parents, and somehow less leadership ability than Anthony Davis. At least AD showed up to team tryouts. Shit is ridiculous.
This was posted on tiger droppings anonymously by someone and let's just say I can't refute any of it pic.twitter.com/NfwMrpzjJ8
— Shamit Dua (@FearTheBrown) September 22, 2021
The details of that post remain unconfirmed, so there’s no way to know how accurate it is.
Regardless, it reflects the level of tension surrounding the organization right now, an organization that should be establishing a winning culture.
We’ll see soon enough if there is any truth to these reports. In the meantime, the Pelicans still have some serious strides to make on the basketball court.
