For all the talent that Zion Williamson possesses when he takes the floor for the New Orleans Pelicans, it's safe to say that he hasn't gotten his career off to the start that he was likely hoping for. Williamson has struggled mightily to stay healthy and on the court, and has dealt with a myriad of controversies off the court that have clearly hampered him as well. However, Pelicans GM David Griffin wants to make it clear that New Orleans isn't giving up on Williamson just yet.
Williamson has seen his name pop up quite frequently in trade rumors this offseason, which isn't totally surprising given how his inability to stay on the court seems to be holding the Pels back. However, David Griffin has done his best to shut down these rumors recently, going as far to suggest that news outlets are “manufacturing” these rumors in order to draw in more readers.
“I think what’s unfortunate is that he’s a name that generates clicks no matter what the link says. Zion puts on his socks. People click on that. So it makes it really easy for people to manufacture rumors around him — because they don’t have to have any actual credibility behind what they say to generate clicks. As a society, this isn’t [just] true of sports, this is true across all platforms — reality doesn’t matter anymore. Generating clicks matters. So unfortunately for Zion, he’s just an oddity and somebody that people pay a great deal of attention to and manufacture a lot of stories around. We never had a single [trade] conversation that Zion was part of.” – David Griffin, Sirius XM
This isn't to say that every rumor that comes to light is true, but in a lot of cases, where there's smoke, there's fire. Griffin has made it clear that this rumor in particular simply isn't true, and while there's a decent chance this won't totally put the situation to rest, it's seeming more and more likely that Williamson will be sticking around in New Orleans for the upcoming season.
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