Pelicans’ Zion Williamson Ripped By NBA Analyst Amid Controversy

New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson was in the news this week for the wrong reasons. After he and his partner announced they were having a kid, the NBA star was called out by another woman for cheating on her.

When ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith caught wind of the scandal, he didn’t hold back on Williamson.

“Man, you only played 29 games last year! And you missed the season before that! What the heck is taking you so long to get healthy? Well, now I know!”

Smith insinuated that it’s taking Williamson so long to get healthy because he’s too busy spending time with multiple women in the bedroom.

Williamson has only played in 114 NBA games since being the No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 draft out of Duke. The lefty played in 24 games his rookie year and 61 games his sophomore year. The two-time All-Star missed his entire third year and appeared in just 29 games this season.

When he’s been on the court, Williamson has been a superstar. The North Carolina native has career averages of 25.8 points, 7.0 rebounds and 3.6 assists. Williamson signed a five-year, $194.3 million designated rookie contract extension with the Pelicans in July 2022.

According to NBA insider Christian Clark of NOLA.com, Williamson’s relationship with Pelicans vice president of player care Adrian Nelson became strained during his rookie season. Clark also reported in his story that Pelicans small forward Brandon Ingram’s inability to play through minor discomfort has frustrated some of his teammates. The one-time All-Star played in just 45 games this season.

“Williamson’s relationship with Nelson became strained during his rookie season,” Clark wrote. “At different points, Williamson refused to work with him. It was a rocky first few months for Nelson, whose arrival to the Pelicans was trumpeted with a glowing 1,800-word profile on their team website.”

“Ingram has sometimes seemed unwilling to play through minor discomfort, to the point where some of his teammates have become frustrated with him over the past two years. The Pelicans thought they had solved their player care and performance problem by hiring Nelson. Four years later, Nelson’s time in charge of the department is over.”