Weight has always been the issue with Zion Williamson ever since he entered the New Orleans Pelicans system. His body and quickness look like a far cry from what it used to be when he was still with Duke. One of his most staunch critics is Stephen A Smith. He caught the response of the young NBA player and had to be brutally honest on him once again, via First Take on ESPN.

“Zion's stepdad called me this morning, and we had a good conversation… I said that Zion Williamson looked fat. I meant it. I'm not stuttering… Zion, if you're listening… We all want you to succeed,” was the reaction Stephen A Smith dropped after hearing the Pelicans star respond well to his criticism.

Zion Williamson was thankful for the comments made by the First Take host. But, the caveat is that he needs the statement to come from a place where they want to see him do better. Otherwise, he was not going to entertain thoughts about a negative body image just because.

His numbers are starting to climb back up 20 games into the season. He has 22.9 points per contest while shooting on a 58.4% clip from all three levels of scoring. His verticality did take some sort of hit because he saw his rebounding numbers go down from seven boards to 5.5 cleaned glasses. The Pelicans star might start getting back into shape and exceed expectations once again just like he did at Duke. Until then, Smith might not stop criticizing him.