Zion Williamson has looked really good for the New Orleans Pelicans to start the season. At this point, it's hard to imagine that this was the same man that was so heavily criticized for his weight last year.

Zion himself has now spoken out about his weight issues. The Pelicans superstar admitted that he was significantly affected by all the negative criticism that was thrown in his direction for supposedly being unable to control his weight:

“What people don't understand is, even the writers and stuff, if they have children of their own, imagine if somebody talked about their child how they spoke about me,” Williamson told Melissa Rholin of FOX Sports last week. “Critiquing my body, critiquing how I look. Every time they talked about me, it was about weight, how bad I looked. I don't even think they realized what kind of impact that can have on you.”

This is tough to hear. I myself am guilty of criticizing Zion's weight, while also making jokes about his eating habits. I have kids of my own and I would hate to hear these types of insults hurled at them. Williamson is right; and for that, I apologize.

“That's nasty because with a lower-body injury, that dictates how you walk, that dictates how you run, how you do everyday activities and how you move,” Williamson said. “For the world to critique me like that and all I was trying to do was make sure my foot was straight? It was a lot. I'm not going to lie to you — It was a lot.”

It was totally unfair for the media to come out with all those nasty narratives about the Pelicans star and his unwanted weight gain. As it turns out, this was all brought about by the fact that he was rehabbing his injury.

It wasn't just the media who made the situation so difficult for Zion, though. His parents, for one, also showed deep concern over Williamson's weight, which was something that he did not appreciate:

“I was like, ‘Y'all relax, hearing it from y'all doesn't help me and it makes it worse for me as a matter of fact,’” Williamson said. “So, when I broke it down like that, they understood. Once my foot heals, I'll get back on track.”

Right now, Zion Williamson is looking like an entirely different person from the young man who we all criticized heavily last season. He's been a beast for the Pelicans to start the campaign, and at this point, all we can hope for is that he remains healthy.