Rocio Robles
Injuries have severely affected Zion Williamson’s young career. The New Orleans Pelicans power forward has failed to live up to the organization’s confidence when they chose him as the first pick of the 2019 NBA Draft.
Williamson played just 24 games in his rookie campaign, 61 last season and did not see a single minute of action this year after suffering a fractured right foot during the offseason.
As a result, the 1.98-meter forward is focused solely on signing a contract extension with the Pelicans, making up for lost time, and continuing to put together the strong team that advanced to the first round of the Playoffs despite his absence.
As Zion Williamson told ESPN’s Andrew Lopez, he wouldn’t hesitate for a second to renew with New Orleans if they made him an offer, considering that this summer he is eligible to sign his rookie extension for five seasons and a maximum of $186 million, according to Spotrac.com.
“Yes, of course. I wouldn’t be able to sign it quickly enough.”
Zion Williamson on possible extension with Pelicans
While injuries have not allowed him to reach his full potential, when healthy, Williamson is among the most dominant players in the game. An example of this is that in 2020-21 he averaged 27 points, 7.2 rebounds and 3.7 assists with a 61.1% efficiency in his shots from the field.
Zion Williamson and his suffering in the Playoffs
Mastering the urge to be on the court with your teammates, especially if they are playing in the NBA Playoffs, is one of the most difficult aspects of living with an injury.
That was one of the feelings that Zion Williamson had to fight against in recent weeks after the Pelicans won both of their Play-In Tournament games. They eventually went on to meet the Phoenix Suns in the first round of the postseason.
“Watching from the bench really sucks. I just want to be out there… I’m seeing our potential, and we have a lot of great pieces. I’m excited to be able to be on the court with those guys.”
Zion Williamson, to Jim Eichenhofer of Pelicans.com
If Williamson can get healthy full-time for next season, the Pelicans would assemble a pretty interesting team with Brandon Ingram, CJ McCollum, rookie Herb Jones, veteran Jonas Valanciunas and Jaxson Hayes. These are more than proven figures, capable of repeating their postseason run.
