The last few summers in New Orleans can be summed up in one phrase: waiting for Zion Williamson. The Louisiana franchise took him with the No. 1 pick in the 2019 Draft and has been counting on him ever since to finally pair better body care with greater maturity. According to Marc J. Spears of ESPN, the power forward has already made strides in that direction this season.
“I had dinner with Willie Green and he told me Zion looks great and is showing a lot more leadership,” he said. “If you take a look at their roster, it’s a lot better and deeper than many people think.”
"The day before I went fishing in New Orleans, I had dinner with Willie Green… He said Zion looks great. He is showing a lot more leadership… If you look at their roster, it's a lot deeper and better than a lot of people think"
— @MarcJSpears on Zion Williamson pic.twitter.com/DfS00Ns4x2
— Pelicans Film Room (@PelsFilmRoom) September 22, 2025
The Pelicans are coming off an absolute nightmare of injuries, which makes it easy to forget that not too long ago, they were contending for a top seed in the West and had plenty of reasons to be excited. But this same storyline has played out every summer for more years than they’d like, and at this point, it’s unclear whether believing in this project is justified optimism or pure fantasy.
Ultimately, it’s hard to ignore that Zion Williamson played 30 games last season, which still stands as the third-best mark of his career so far. If the same scenario repeats this year, they’ll have to start asking some very tough questions about this project.
(Cover photo: Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images)
