Zion Williamson's removal from Pelicans' promotional material not a sign team wants trade?

After J.J. Redick‘s condemnation of Zion Williamson‘s behavior towards new Pelicans teammate CJ McCollum, McCollum stated that Williamson finally reached out and the two spoke, but Williamson’s public silence is a willful choice not to quiet the speculation surrounding the franchise, Scott Kushner of NOLA.com opines.

A year ago, Williamson was a first-time All-Star and one of the league’s must-see young players. Yet on Monday, the Pelicans removed Williamson from marketing materials to season-ticket holders for next season, instead focusing on Brandon Ingram, Jonas Valanciunas and McCollum, Kushner relays.

According to Kushner, the decision to omit Williamson isn’t an indication that New Orleans is interested in trading the young star. It’s an acknowledgement that the Pelicans don’t know when he’ll return to the court, and a way to shield themselves from criticism of false advertising.

It’s a stark contrast to the Media Day comments made by executive VP of basketball operations David Griffin, who stated at the time that Williamson would be ready for the regular season. Williamson also expressed optimism about his return back then, but he still hasn’t played a game this season and has been in Oregon since early January while rehabbing his injured foot.

Here’s more on the Williamson situation:

• Appearing on SportsCenter, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst (video link) states the Pelicans and Williamson are “distant, both literally and figuratively.” Since leaving the team, the Pelicans haven’t released an update on Williamson’s health status, and his camp has been very cautious in limiting information, per Windhorst. He thinks the Pelicans might offer Williamson a rookie scale scale extension this summer similar to the one Joel Embiid received, with some of the contract being non-guaranteed and based around injury protection.
• Similar to Kushner, William Guillory of The Athletic writes that if Williamson wants the outside noise to stop, his actions need to start backing up his words. Williamson says he loves the city of New Orleans, but then disappears for periods of time, leaving a shroud of mystery. Williamson’s last conversation with the media came in late September, during Media Day. Prior to Williamson’s departure to Oregon for rehab, several members of the organization — over the course of three-plus months — tried to convince Williamson to make public statements about his recovery process, but Williamson chose to remain silent, Guillory reports. It’s gotten to the point that Pelicans fans don’t trust what Williamson has to say anymore, according to Guillory.
• Tom Ziller of Substack thinks the Pelicans bear plenty of blame for how events have transpired with Williamson, noting that there has been a rotating cast of three head coaches and several veteran teammates in his two-plus seasons with the team, creating instability for the young star. Lonzo Ball was reportedly Williamson’s best friend on the team and the two had synergy on the court, but the Pelicans opted to not re-sign him. Williamson clearly isn’t doing his job, Ziller states, but others in New Orleans are culpable as well.