NBA
Zion Williamson Trade Rumors: ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith Says Zion ‘Doesn’t Want to be in New Orleans’
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All posts by Antonio KozlowUpdated10 hours ago on January 14, 2025
As we’ve grown accustomed, Zion Williamson has spent most of this 2024-25 season injured on the sidelines. However, he returned for one game last week and impressed all with his powerful dunks. However, last Friday the Pelicans suspended him for violating team policies, and now all sorts of rumours are starting to spread.
According to ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, for example, the young All-Star doesn’t want to play in Louisiana any longer “Zion doesn’t want to be in New Orleans, he doesn’t want to be there,” he said on his show First Take. “He wants to be in a major market like L.A., New York, or whatever, because he wants the marketability.”
As the 24-year-old didn’t participate in his team’s 123-115 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers last weekend, the NBA insider believes it is more personal than we think. Also, the Pelicans are currently enduring a poor campaign, standing second-to-last in the Western standings.
Zion has only been able to play in eight games so far this season due to a hamstring injury suffered in November, and Smith is convinced that the player doesn’t exhibit the “professionalism” that is needed from him to improve their 8-32 record this season.
“What he doesn’t realize is somebody like Ja Morant, even with his troubles from the past, Ja Morant is a spectacular talent that shows up and plays most times unless he is injured and this brother can be box office,” said the ESPN host. “He’s clearly the better of the two in terms of his availability and his professionalism even with some of his troubles.”
Despite only performing in a few matches so far, the power forward has averaged 21.8 points per contest, along with 7.6 rebounds and 4.9 assists. Even though his stats prove he still has what it takes, so many injuries have made his almost untradeable. “You look at Zion Williamson right now, it’s becoming a joke,” Smith expressed.
He then added: “You know that this brother has got superstar written all over him as a talent, but he doesn’t appear to care enough about being a professional and he certainly, I don’t believe, wants to be in New Orleans. I think he wants out, I think that’s what this is all about and I think he’d rather be someplace else. But why should anybody want him if this is what you’re going to get?”
