Sep 23, 2025; Metairie, LA, USA; New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson (1) takes part in media day at Ochsner Sports Performance Center. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images

Ex-NBA Star Doesn’t Hold Back on Zion Williamson’s Viral Quote

Originally posted on Fastbreak on SI | By Justin Grasso | Last updated Sep 25, 2025 12:07 AM ET

Tuesday was a big day for the New Orleans Pelicans. Zion Williamson gladly showed off his “new look” as the superstar forward has slimmed down.

The former Duke superstar said all of the right things during his media day presser, revealing that his workouts went beyond the basketball court and the weight room to ensure he was getting into optimal shape. As a result, Zion feels like a top prospect once again.

“We came up with a plan,” Zion told reporters.

“From boxing to working out on the football field a lot. It's just different, random workouts, and during that time frame last year, I really felt the shift in my body to where I was looking and going, ‘Yo this feels good. This feels good.' I haven't felt like this since college, high school, just where I can walk in the gym and I'm like, ‘I feel good.'”

NBA fans ate it up. The former NBA All-Star Jeff Teague took a different route.

“This is probably the dumbest press conference I’ve ever heard in my life,” said the outspoken ex-guard.

“All this stuff is because of you. You choose to eat, be out of shape, all of that. Now, all of a sudden, it’s a contract year, probably, or he’s looking for an extension. All of a sudden, he’s in shape and they believe in him. Fool, they gave you a max deal. They’ve been believed in you, but they had to put all those options on there because you didn’t believe in you.”

Back in 2023, Williamson fired up the first season of a five-year deal. He’s going to total $197.2 million through 2028. This season, the star forward will make $39.3 million. He’ll exceed $40 million in each of the following two seasons.

The Pelicans and the rest of the NBA have come to realize that Zion Williamson is one of the most dominant players at his position when he’s on top of his game. Unfortunately, the former No. 1 pick has faced a ton of obstacles throughout his career.

It took Zion five seasons to finally break through 65 games. After appearing in 70 games during the 2023-2024 season, he managed to be on the court for just 30 games last year. When healthy, Williamson averaged 24.6 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 5.3 assists.

It’s simple—the Pelicans need Zion on the court in order to have a chance. With him, they’ve won over 50 percent of their games. Without him, they’ve won under 40 percent.

After making some big changes this offseason, the Pelicans will have a new-look roster surrounding Zion. As optimistic as the NBA world is for slim Zion, Jeff Teague won’t be impressed until he sees the forward show some consistency.