{"id":624464,"date":"2026-02-25T18:06:28","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T18:06:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/624464\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T18:06:28","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T18:06:28","slug":"zach-lowe-says-what-pelicans-fans-already-know-about-zion-williamsons-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/624464\/","title":{"rendered":"Zach Lowe says what Pelicans fans already know about Zion Williamson\u2019s future"},"content":{"rendered":"

All season long, it’s been clear for New Orleans Pelicans fans that rookie Derik Queen’s arrival has complicated Zion Williamson\u2019s long-term fit. Both players are incredibly talented but share similar scoring profiles and defensive deficiencies that make playing them together in the front court a nightmare. This is something that long-time NBA writer Zach Lowe highlighted on a recent episode<\/a> of the Zach Lowe Show.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems like they are stuck between identities, an old identity centered around Zion and a new identity centered around Queen,\u201d Lowe said.<\/p>\n

He touched on how Williamson’s usage takes a massive hit because, throughout the course of the game, the offense is also trying to incorporate running things through Queen. This is a problem because Williamson isn’t a floor spacer or a player who’s creative off-ball, often leaving him just standing around and ball-watching.<\/p>\n

Lowe said, \u201cWe’re going to get to the end of the season, and we’re going to get Zion trade rumors pretty fast\u2026 it feels like New Orleans is halfway to moving on to a new way of playing basketball that doesn\u2019t necessarily have a place for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lowe’s thoughts on Williamson’s future in New Orleans align with many Pelicans supporters’ views on this situation.<\/p>\n

The offseason may finally end the Zion era<\/p>\n

Something Lowe touched on was how impressive Williamson’s health has been this season, and that it may be being overlooked because of the team’s current situation. This season, Z has appeared in 43 games, already the third-most in a single season of his NBA career. On top of that, he hasn’t missed a game since December 14th and has appeared in 32 straight games, which is the most consecutive games played of his career.<\/p>\n

For a long time, health was a major concern for Williamson, and it may have even prevented opposing teams from inquiring about a trade for the former No. 1 overall pick. It appears the days of constant injuries and health issues may be behind the 25-year-old.<\/p>\n

Health isn’t the only positive with Williamson, as he is still producing at a high level offensively despite having the lowest usage rate of his career. This season, he’s averaging 21.9 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game. <\/p>\n

It appears the stars are finally starting to align: a healthy season with good numbers from Williamson, and the next player to carry the mantle for the Pelicans is here in Derik Queen. A new era of Pelicans basketball no longer feels like a dream\u2014it feels real.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"All season long, it’s been clear for New Orleans Pelicans fans that rookie Derik Queen’s arrival has complicated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":624465,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3796],"tags":[7,6,478,470,4073,4072,675],"class_list":["post-624464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-orleans-pelicans","tag-basketball","tag-nba","tag-new-orleans","tag-new-orleans-pelicans","tag-neworleans","tag-neworleanspelicans","tag-pelicans"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116132602627438080","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624464","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=624464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624464\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/624465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=624464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=624464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=624464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}