Zion Williamson missed the entirety of the 2021-22 NBA season recovery from his lingering injuries. But that didn't affect his contract negotiations one bit. The New Orleans Pelicans gave him a full rookie max extension for $231 million to lock him up for the foreseeable future.

In his recent press conference following the signing, Zion Williamson was asked about what he was looking to prove after letting the ink dry on his new deal:

“I want to prove that I'm a winner. Simple as that. I want to win with coach. I want to win with my teammates. The ultimate goal is to win a championship. I feel like that's what we're all striving for. Like [Pelicans GM David Griffin] said, we're hungry. Y'all saw this past year what the team did. I'm just excited to add to that.”

There's been a lot of hullabaloo made about Zion and his dissatisfaction staying in a small market like New Orleans. But he's since fired back at any speculation, indicating that there's no better source to affirm his desire to stick around than directly from him:

“I told the world, if you ever want to know if I want to be here, just ask me and instead of asking me the world just ran with narratives. My family was getting harassed by people and why we don't like New Orleans or why I don't want to be here, when that's not the case at all.”

Zion Williamson wants to win with the New Orleans Pelicans. That doesn't appear to be changing anytime soon.