Brian Windhorst On Zion Williamson: "He Will Never Be The Kind Of Transformational Player That We All Thought He Could Be Until He Gets Closer To That Player He Was At Duke."

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Zion Williamson was widely viewed as a generational "can't miss" prospect going into the 2019 NBA Draft and there is no doubt that he's been good in the league. He made his first All-Star appearance during the 2020-21 season while averaging 27.0 PPG and 7.2 RPG.

However, there have been some questions about his conditioning and durability, and about whether those two factors could prevent him from becoming the NBA legend that many thought he could be. There were reports that Zion Williamson reached 300 pounds over the offseason. Also, Zion Williamson underwent surgery for a fractured foot during the summer and was expected to be ready for the start of the season.

Brian Windhorst has recently spoken about the situation in New Orleans, and about how the organization has mishandled the Zion Williamson situation, as they "obfuscated" information about Williamson's injury. Windhorst also stated that Zion Williamson won't be the "transformational player" people predicted him to be unless he became the player he was at Duke, which would mean getting in better shape.

They had a coach with him throughout the summer. I think they knew he was hurt. They elected whether it was to make him or his family happy, they elected to lie, and not tell people that he was injured and had surgery.

That has undercut the belief in them, and then they made the double mistake of saying he'd be back on opening day. Now he's not going be back until maybe December.

When you elect to not be forthcoming, when you elect to obfuscate. You're inviting all kinds of problems. You're inviting problems with your fans. You're inviting problems with people you're in business with. You're inviting problems with the media. You're in some ways inviting problems with the player.

They have not been transparent on this at all... They come out to their fans on the opening of training camp and say "By the way, your franchise player is really badly injured". Very bad, very very poorly handled.

As for long-term, Zion is not the same player he was at Duke... He's still great. He averaged 27 points and shot 60% last year. That's awesome. But he will never be the kind of transformational player we all thought he could be until he gets closer to that player he was at Duke.

You hate to see players get injured, and hopefully, we see a return from Zion Williamson sooner rather than later, so this controversy can die down. As for Windhorst's long-term projection about Williamson, it makes sense that he would be a better player were he to get in peak condition. As Windhorst mentions, his numbers are "great", but if he gets in top-tier shape, he could be even more dominant.

It remains to be seen when Zion Williamson will return, and how he will look like on his return. The New Orleans Pelicans have a negative record without him, and hopefully, that can change with his coming back.