Is There a Place for Zion Williamson?
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In NBA news not involving the Grizzlies, the New Orleans Pelicans appear to be a bad basketball team. I think they only have one win to this point of the season. I know it's still early, but being 1-6 or 1-7 in the Western Conference does not bode well for this team. Let’s discuss.
The Jordan Poole trade has been terrible to this point. They barely play Derik Queen, who they traded a ton for to pick in the lottery. Kevon Looney is coming off injury, Dejounte Murray is not all the way back and they even started Deandre Jordan this season. Jeremiah Fears looks solid, but other than that, this team is a disaster. I feel for their coach because he has not been given a fair shake. And now, as it always seems to be the case, every major publication says it's time to trade Zion Williamson.
I feel like Zion has never really wanted to be in New Orleans. The fit has been odd. Even when he was healthy and playing with some kind of regularity, he never seemed content. Now he is often injured, his offseason body comes and goes and he seems even more discontent. So I guess I get why people say they should trade him. But I do not truly know who would want him at the price the Pelicans will be asking, and why would the Pelicans willingly trade him when he is the only reason people come to games in New Orleans.
When I think about where he may want to go, it seems like he wants to be in a big, big market. Let's take the three major markets, New York, LA and Chicago.
Chicago has a good thing going right now, it probably won't last, and they just shredded a ton of salary the past two seasons. They got off DeRozan and Lavine's contracts. I think they're near the end of Nikola Vucecvic's deal. They gave Josh Giddey less than he wanted. Coby White doesn't have an extension yet. The Bulls front office is finally making some solid decisions. So why would they trade real assets for Zion? He doesn't play as much as they would need him on the floor, and he is an expensive dude to keep under contract. I also don't see a fit next to Giddey, Matas Buzelis and Coby White. Patrick Williams seems to have figured some stuff out too, and he is just Zion light. I don't think the Bulls should do anything at the moment. They should ride it out, especially in the East, and see what they have.
As for the two LA teams, it doesn't make any sense. The Clippers have an old roster and no desirable picks coming up. They have the guys they want, Ty Lue gets to run his system and Zion would just stop any production they have moving forward. Zion is almost too good a talent, and I feel like he would muck up the whole system with the Clippers. The Clippers may be the only team that could take on his salary, but that's besides the point. The Lakers simply cannot afford Zion. They have no real picks of value. They would have to trade players they really like to get Zion. Luka Doncic may like to throw him lobs, but he completely halts any type of defense. LeBron James needs time to ramp up when he comes back, and Zion would clog the lane. And Zion would not be able to have the ball in his hands much, and that would slow him down.
Brooklyn doesn't need to add him when they have a million young players. I guess they could trade some of those young guys, but why would they to get Zion? They don't know what they have yet in all their picks, they don't have plans to truly win, they want to build from within and they don't want to take on massive salaries.
Amongst the big market teams, the Knicks make the most sense. They have the players to do it, Zion would probably love playing there and they could integrate him with ease. But the Knicks are already in a good place. I don't think they should rock the boat. They have a team that made the East Finals last season and have bigger aspirations going into this season. While Zion is a wunderkind, if this trade didn't work for them, it would set them back too much for the current stars on the team.
So the big market teams make zero sense for Zion and the Pelicans. But if a trade were to happen there's only two real teams in my opinion, the Grizzlies and Hornets. These are not big markets, but the Pelicans could get a big name from Memphis, say Ja Morant, and the Hornets could give them real picks that have real upside of being lottery picks. Now, as for Memphis, why trade Ja for Zion? That makes no sense to me. They need to get more important role players if they're going to trade Morant. As for the Hornets, if they can keep LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller, why not go after Zion? Teaming him up with Miller and Ball would be kind of fun. There wouldn't be much defense, but the offense would be a blast to watch if Zion can stay on the floor.
All in all I just don't see any real reason for the Pelicans to bail at this time. They should keep him around, see if he and Poole or Fears can do something promising and aim for a high pick in the upcoming draft.
Ty
Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.