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As the New Orleans Pelicans gear up for Dejounte Murray’s return from his hand injury, one NBA insider examined Zion Williamson’s career with the Pelicans from a long-term perspective. Williamson signed a five-year, $197.2 million contract extension with New Orleans in 2022. However, he broke a non-guaranteed clause for the final three years of his contract when he only played in 29 games in 2022-23. This could be the Pelicans’ way out of Zion business, per ESPN’s Tim MacMahon.
This season, Williamson is dealing with a hamstring injury and isn’t showing any signs of making a return. For these concerns and Zion’s injury history, MacMahon believes letting the two-time All-Star go is best for New Orleans when he joined Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective.
“You just get out of the business of being dependent on a guy who is as undependable as anybody in the league, and it’s essentially a fresh start from a financial perspective,” MacMahon said. “Look, if it gets to that point, they probably are going to have a relatively high lottery pick coming in. It’s a complete fresh start.”
The Pelicans (4-13) have the worst record in the Western Conference. Williamson has been out since Nov. 6 with no timetable set for a potential return. Another option is seeking a deal without losing the star forward with nothing in return. Still, with three years, $126.5 million left on Zion’s contract, and his struggles to stay healthy, finding a trade won’t be easy.
“Now again, I 100% agree if you’re going to get out of the Zion business, it would be much better to be able to make a move and get reasonable value in the trade market, but for the same reason the Pelicans would even consider this, I don’t know maybe Zion’s such a talent that somebody says hey we’re going to take a chance on that because he is that kind of a talent, but I don’t know that you’re going to get a lot of teams that are eager to take on Zion with all the baggage that comes along with him on a max contract.
Brandon Ingram follows Zion Williamson by leaving same agency
Within 24 hours, Pelicans forwards Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram left Creative Arts Agency. After Williamson’s departure on Saturday, Ingram left the same agency on Sunday, per the Athletic’s Will Guillory and Kelly Iko.
With Murray's return slated for Wednesday, Ingram and the Pelicans will face the Pacers on Monday.
