Zion Williamson of the New Orleans Pelicans has been under scrutiny as of late, specifically from Stephen A. Smith of ESPN, who indicated that he is not eating properly to maximize his performance in the NBA, and retired NBA legend Carmelo Anthony spoke about the stage that Williamson in his career during a conversation with The Kid Mero.

“I think, from the beginning, there was so much put on Zion, like thrown at him,” Carmelo Anthony said to The Kid Mero on 7PM in Brooklyn. “You have to be the next — you are the logo, you are the next guy. We haven't seen [anything] like this since '03. So because of that… this kid is [coming in at] 18 — this kid still wants to eat McDonald's, this kid still wants to eat Chick-fil-A, this kid still wants to drink iced tea, man he's from South Carolina… this is what they do — they eat… The fans want him to be Zion Williamson, the greatest thing since Wilt Chamberlain… but that's not who he wants to be yet. So now he's dealing with the mental aspect of ‘I just want to be 19, but it's so much pressure…' So you start battling that and now injuries come… so now it's [that] he's too heavy, he's this, he's that… He needs to be disciplines… You [are] not gonna have that longevity that we are talking about if you don't have that discipline… my message Zion is discipline, do what you gotta do an embrace the white hat.”

Williamson did come in with a ton of expectations, after one great year at Duke in 2018-2019 before getting picked No. 1 in the NBA Draft by the Pelicans. The team is expecting him to become the star player.

The Pelicans did beat the Washington Wizards on Wednesday, but Williamson did not participate in the game.

Despite the Pelicans having a solid season, Williamson is still catching some criticism.