New Orleans Pelicans<\/a> possibly moving on from the 24-year-old forward, that talk has cooled. The team\u2019s front office appears to be doubling down on keeping Zion in the fold.Joe Dumars, the New Orleans Pelicans\u2019 new executive vice president of basketball operations, made the franchise\u2019s intentions clear in an interview with The Times-Picayune\u2019s Rod Walker in June. Dumars said he has had \u201creally good conversations with Zion\u201d and emphasized that the star forward is \u201cgoing to continue to be a focal point here.\u201dThat sentiment suggests the New Orleans Pelicans aren\u2019t ready to hit the reset button. Instead, they seem prepared to bet on Williamson finally staying healthy and leading the team deeper into contention.<\/p>\nCan Zion Williamson Stay on the Court?<\/p>\n
Whether this gamble pays off depends entirely on Zion Williamson\u2019s ability to stay on the floor. With nearly $40 million committed to him for 2025-26 and two more lucrative years potentially on the books, the New Orleans Pelicans are tying up a significant chunk of cap space in a player whose availability remains uncertain.Yet, they also know what he can bring when he\u2019s right: elite scoring, unmatched physicality, and the potential to be a franchise cornerstone. As Andrew Peters originally reported, \u201cAt his best, Williamson is well worth $39.4 million guaranteed.\u201dThe question now becomes: will we finally see the best version of Zion this season\u2014and for more than just 30 games?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Zion Williamson (Image Source – Getty Images) The New Orleans Pelicans\u2019 offseason just took a defining turn with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":173622,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3796],"tags":[7,21684,6,21606,478,470,4073,4072,675,32008,32007],"class_list":{"0":"post-173621","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-orleans-pelicans","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-basketball-trade-news","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-nba-player-trades","12":"tag-new-orleans","13":"tag-new-orleans-pelicans","14":"tag-neworleans","15":"tag-neworleanspelicans","16":"tag-pelicans","17":"tag-zion-williamson-contract-details","18":"tag-zion-williamson-trade-rumors"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114860674517678417","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173621\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"NBA](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/122543248.jpg\" "\\"Zion")
Zion Williamson (Image Source – Getty Images) The New Orleans Pelicans\u2019 offseason just took a defining turn with the guaranteed salary of Zion Williamson now locked in for the 2025-26 season. Amid swirling trade rumors and concerns over his availability, the team has officially committed $39.4 million to their star forward, signaling continued faith in his potential despite a rocky injury history.<\/p>\n![\"Zion](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/zion-williamson.jpg\" "\\"New")
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