The Truth has FINALLY Leaked…

The Truth has FINALLY Leaked…

The truth has finally leaked surrounding Zion Williamson’s future with the New Orleans Pelicans as there has been a lot of discussion with the new regime on how the Pelicans plan to build around Zion Williamson or move on around younger talent as well as Z has been no stranger to trade rumors and also with a new look Pelicans team surrounding them. There has been a lot of questions on what is next for the team’s franchise player and we’re going to break it all down. What’s up guys? Welcome back to Pelicans Digest. It’s Chris here. We’re going to jump right into things. As always, if you guys are part of that 74% that’s not subscribed to Pelicans Digest and you’re watching these videos, you’re enjoying them, you’re having fun, make sure to subscribe. We got daily updates coming at you and you do not want to miss out. It’s a really fun time talking about the Pelicans right now. Obviously, last season did not go as well, but things are heating up now and there’s a lot of hope going into the 2025 26 season. But let’s jump right into it. There’s a lot to go over as Zion Williamson since being drafted in 2019 has been the franchise player. The former first overall pick has been nothing short of phenomenal when he’s on the court, but the entire issue has always been the injury problems that Zion has faced throughout his career. Now, on top of that, there has been a lot of questions surrounding Zion and his weight and his drive and how how much he really does want to be a great player in the NBA. But the answer definitely is that he wants to be. And that got proven last year when Zion lost a ton of weight to show that he did take his career seriously and that he still is taking things very seriously. He’s no longer a young guy in the NBA. He’s going into year six of his career and there’s a lot of questions surrounding Williamson and how he plans to bounce back and become this healthier guy who could actually lead the Pelicans to success. As we’ve seen when Zion’s on the floor, the man is absolutely excellent. Nobody is doubting his greatness. But there have been doubts on if Zion is going to continue his career with the Pelicans as the new regime has come in and typically that does mean changes are coming. Now, Zion again, still the franchise player of this team, and as long as he’s on the team, he’s going to be the franchise player. But there’s just a lot of questions surrounding him. And that got answered recently by an anonymous NBA executive who spoke to Sprak saying that Zion is still our guy. If he wasn’t, we could have waved him for like nothing on the books. We could have reset everything, but we believe in Zion. He wants to make it work, and so do we. This partnership hasn’t even come close to reaching our best yet. Now again, Zion’s phenomenal. He played in 28.6 minutes per game last year and put up 24 and a half points, seven rebounds, and five assists. He’s obviously the best player in the Pelicans whenever he steps out. And he’s still just 25 years old as he just turned 25. He’s still young. There’s still more room for Zion to grow as a player. And when you watch the way that Zion goes out there, you could tell he wants to win. He is a dominant force in the NBA, but it’s always been the same thing. Can Zion Williamson be healthy? That was always the fear going into things that Zion, for better or for worse, would become the next Blake Griffin in a ton of ways where he’d be excellent when he’s on the floor, but he’s not on the floor that often. Zion has so far really become the reincarnated Blake Griffin where the man looks like he could be one of, if not the best player on a championship team when he’s fully healthy. But now we’re entering year six of this. Not experiment. He was picked first overall for an obvious reason. I mean, maybe you go back and you take Jarant first overall now in retrospect, but do you like it’s not like Jaw has been super healthy or on the court a bunch either. And then outside of them like I mean Darius Garland has been solid. RJ Barrett has he leads all the stats for that draft class because he’s been healthy and he had a big role with both the Knicks and the Raptors thus far. But Zion’s by far the best player in this draft class when you look at just like when it comes straight down to who’s the best player here. It is Zion. I’m taking Zion over John Morant. And I imagine because this is Pelicans Digest, I won’t have to convince many people to agree with that statement. But Zion gets doubled more than anyone in basketball. When you look at what the Genius Sports data says, in a minimum of 1,000 touches last season, Zion Williamson had the highest double team rate of anyone. I’m not sure why Cam Thomas isn’t bold when I took this image. Just had that. But um Zen gets double teams 26% of the time. He has the ball. Second after him is the MVP Shay Gilis Alexander who got doubled 21% of the time and everyone’s close there. And Zion’s a huge rate above cuz you can’t guard Zion one-on-one. He’s going to move through you. He might be the strongest player in the NBA. And he’s just he’s a literal wrecking ball. And I mean, you look at the other guys on this list. Giannis Antenna, one of the great players in NBA history at this point, who is always in the MVP conversation. Cam Thomas, who might have been the only player to be on the Brooklyn Nets last year, and Kawhi Leonard, who still up to this day when he’s healthy and good, same thing similar to Zion, the man is phenomenal. So Zion definitely, he’s showing that he is a valuable player who does matter a lot to this team. And teams do fear Zion Williamson because he’s impossible to guard down low. He’s got such a nice touch around the rim outside of the dunks. And the man just it’s there’s a reason why he gets doubled all the time. Now Zion was speaking with Joe Dumar recently. There was this photo of the two of them together. So there’s already that relationship being formed and Joe Dumar did speak on this as well saying, “I’ve had really good conversations with Zion. We had lunch, dinner. Maybe that’s not a great idea. All right, I shouldn’t have said that. We watched playoff games together. We’ve done it all. I’ve had some real honest conversations with him. Some real direct and honest conversations. We’re going forwards with Zion. He’s going to continue to be a focal point here. As we go forwards, I sent him to the lottery for a reason. I want him to start focusing on the responsibilities of being the best player here and the focal point. There are some responsibilities that come with that. Go represent your organization. I think that is a phenomenal idea by Joe Dumar to put Zion in this situation. When you look at the Pelicans projected depth chart for this season, and I don’t know why Deshante Murray’s at the two and Jordan pulls at the one here because obviously Desante’s playing the one, but when you look at the projected depth chart, it’s not hard to realize that Zion Williamson is the best player on this team. But this is a good team. It’s really, it really is a good team. Like, let’s be honest with ourselves. This is a talented roster. Eves Missy is going to take that leap again. And he’s already been good as a rookie. Zion is Zion. We’ve talked about him for 6 minutes and 30 seconds up to this point. Trey Murphy’s great. Dejante Murray’s an all-star. Jordan Pool’s an excellent scorer who could space the floor and create shots. And the Pelicans after trading BI needed a shot creator, especially after McCollum being gone as well. You definitely need a shot creator. And given they traded McCollum for Jordan Pool in a deal that I think was wonderful for the Pelicans and for the Wizards, it was a home run trade in each in each direction. But now you have a really good guard deal with with Dejonte Murray and Jordan Pool. They fit each other very well. They cover each other’s inabilities and they also they just r they’re very wellrounded out. You have a really good shooter shot creator and then Murray is an excellent playmaker. Can score the ball well and also is a phenomenal defender. Trey Murphy is a great wing to have on this team. Zion again is Zion. And then you look at the bench as well. You have a veteran big and Cavon Looney who knows how to win games. You have Sadi Bay who’s a very good forward in his own right. Herb Jones, we we know about Herb Jones. the man is one of if not the best on ball defender in basketball and on top of that is a great shooter and can do a lot. I know his shooting was a bit shaky this season but still we know who Herb Jones is. Jordan Hawkins is due for a leap and Jose Alvarado and Jeremiah Fears gave really good depth or really good guard depth. So this is a solid team and it really relies on Zion. This is a team that’s not going to succeed if Zion’s not healthy and not playing well. But that’s never been the issue is not playing well. Zion’s always played well. It’s just a matter of being healthy for him. And now you have two new rookies as well, which does make you think what the future could hold. Derek Queen, who they traded up for, and he put up a solid statline back in college for that one year that he was there, putting up 16 and a half, nine, and two, while also shooting 52% from the field, can play that power forward or center spot. And Jeremiah Fierce, who was taken seventh overall, put up 17 points, four rebounds, four assists, and does have a lot of room to grow as a very young guy. But you look at this team, the future looks good. It all is going to rely at the end of the day on Zion Williamson though and how he can really perform. Now again, there’s other players outside of Zion here. They have a good two and three best player. I mean, your second best player, Dejonte Murray, putting up 17 and a half points, six and a half rebounds, seven and a half assists last year. Got that bad luck with the injury, but he’s not an injury-prone guy. Got two steals a game. Obviously, the field goal and three-point numbers were atrocious, but it was a weird year last year that I feel like in a lot of ways we can kind of throw out for DeJonte just considering the injury. And on top of that with Jordan P, who put up 20 points per game with the Wizards last year with three rebounds and four and a half assists, shot 38% from three, was a very good isolation scorer and did give a lot of nice things to this team and or to the Wizards team and can do that with the Pelicans as well. Guys, what do you think about all this? Make sure to comment your thoughts down below. Like this video, subscribe, turn on post notifications. Have a great day. I’ll catch you on the next one.

Chris Gallagher breaks down the New Orleans Pelicans speaking out on Zion Williamson’s future.

Pelicans Digest is a YouTube channel dedicated to covering all the latest news, trades, reports, and rumors about the New Orleans Pelicans. We provide in-depth coverage of game highlights, player performances, and analysis of team strategies. Our channel features discussions on key players like Zion Williamson, Trey Murphy, Dejounte Murray, CJ McCollum, and Herb Jones, along with insights from Head Coach Willie Green and General Manager Bryson Graham. Stay tuned for all the exciting updates and engaging content on everything Pelicans!

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