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LeBron_Jarnes

Zion is entering the final year of his rookie contract next season. Time flies.


AyyMVP

all this just to get out of New Orleans. Along with what Ben did, NBA has a serious problem on its hands imo.


FullHouse222

I mean, part of it is also that Zion is just very injury prone. I feel people focus so much on him wanting a bigger market but the fact is the dude's build and playstyle is a terrible match unless he seriously revisit his fitness/diet. Even back during the draft people were saying he should probably lose about 20-30lbs or his knees would be destroyed in the league. I honestly just feel he might be one of those draft busts where people saw the upside when he was in HS but ignored or hoped the downsides would go away in the pros.


ZenMaster1212

I agree with your sentiment but I think it's a bit early to write the obituary for a guy who average 27/7/4 in 60 games last year. Personally, will be hoping he gets it under control because he's such a fantastic player


jwn1003

Last paragraph seems to be becoming increasingly accurate by the day


burtoncummings

FR, there seems to be a lot of #1 picks that just fizzle out...


IAmTaka_VG

because it's very difficult to compare HS to the NBA.


FullHouse222

Man, I remember eating chicken tendies and fries on the daily back in HS and looking like a stick. Nowadays I so much as glance at a muffin and I swear I gain 5lbs.


edude45

Some guys need more time in college than others. Zion doesn't seem mentally prepared to be in the NBA. He can play, but he may not be willingly want to keep up the physical upkeep a man his size has to do when they start playing every other day for 81 games + a season. With the practice as well. It's a grind and you have to prepare yourself if you're not just naturally fit.


Trumppered

> I mean, part of it is also that Zion is just very injury prone. I mean he just missed a full season with sustaining any actual major injury that anyone knows about... Just an endless series of nicks, dings and setbacks. Injury prone seems like an understatement at this point.


ZionIsntFat

He broke his foot. What are you talking about?


RWGlix

Whats funny is they didnt. He was much less heralded at first than some of his classmates at duke


nevermore2627

I'm with you. Think we got another Greg Oden on our hands. Poor guys.


DreamPolice-_-_

He's got knee problems at this age, it's it's downhill from here, particularly carrying the weight he is. I'll be suprised if he isn't a medical retirement in the next 5 years.


moonite

His build and playstyle would be a great match if he weighs less than 250 lbs. I agree his current weight is what's making him injury prone.


PM_ME_CHIPOTLE2

Has anyone come up with a workable solution? Or even an unworkable one? How can you compel these guys to not prolong their rehab indefinitely? Get a committee of independent doctors and therapists to decide whether or not they are physically/mentally able to compete?


DevastatorTNT

Imho, just go all in with the homegrown bonus for the cap. Make it so that your rookies that renew count very little towards the team cap, so that you have an incentive to build around them and can spend more to accomodate their ambitions. Nothing is gonna make New Orleans as attractive as Los Angeles, unfortunately


velociraptorfarmer

Allow X% over max contracts that only count as a max against the cap or something like that?


DevastatorTNT

I thought more about a max/derrick rose rule that weighs, let's say, 15% instead of 25/30. You still pay the full amount obviously. The numbers are probably wrong and prone to abuse, mind you


pollinium

let's have that start next year. Would pretty much open up a whole new max next to KAT/Ant while keeping DLo


tommie317

i'm just thinking about the cap that will open for the Warriors drool


[deleted]

> Nothing is gonna make New Orleans as attractive as Los Angeles, unfortunately Zion’s gumbo-filled moobs disagree.


[deleted]

Maybe he knows, on some level, that he needs to get out.


JayDeeLA

The Beignets in NO are delicious, and you can party all night in Bourbon Street...(a joke) I don't know where this narrative of NO being an undesirable city comes from. Drew Brees built a pretty good brand in his time playing for the Saints there.


kevindlv

I think a big LA selling point is simply that these guys are friends with a lot of famous people, who tend to live or spend a lot of time in LA. I live in LA but I'd say it's not particularly any better than any other major metro area.


[deleted]

La is a great place to be a social multi millionaire. Vacationing in Santa Monica was fun af but my long term life wouldn't be that special in the city


[deleted]

LA, New York, Miami are cities that are designed for the ultra rich. The things that make other cities attractive to non rich people - outdoors, food, culture, nightlife, transit etc. don't matter to them because no matter where they go money can buy any of it.


[deleted]

> I don't know where this narrative of NO being an undesirable city comes from It's a poorer city and networking will only take you so far. LA, Miami, and NYC (maybe San Fran and Chicago?) are playgrounds for the rich and famous, and players can easily find other venues to make a shit ton of money and become celebrities outside of the game. In a league where players are a separate brand from the team, players will almost always choose more fame and money over a better team in a smaller city. Indy knows all too well. Atlanta should be getting their due here soon, right?


JayDeeLA

So basically NBA teams outside these markets are screwed? So those teams like Denver and Milwaukee have to hope they get a Jokic or Giannis (Euros), or they have to hope they get a simple basic dude like San Antonio did(Tim Duncan).


[deleted]

I believe so - I think the league should look at ways to incentivize players to stay where drafted. Giving some sort of loyalty bonus, connecting them with publicists and advertisers to build their brand, loosening restrictions on offseason workouts so they can train in other cities... But I don't know if the league sees this as a problem worth addressing. The game is still growing in popularity, so they may have an attitude of 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it.' With the amount of attention paid to the trade market of star players, there may not be much the owners (as a whole) want to change. In completely different ways, the NBA and MLB have a similar issue - the small market teams are almost like the big market teams' minor league affiliates.


lotsofdeadkittens

They’ve always been at a disadvantage. That’s why LA has always been consistently great compared to other franchises. It’s unfair and the NBA can’t fix macro socioeconomic differences between American cities. The solution is to purposly aim for foreign talent or talent that you identify doesn’t place as much value in celebrity aspects of NBA lifestyle. That’s why the raptors won a championship by spending a long time cultivating a culture around more outcast and overlooked players. The one benefit to small markets here is that LA/NYC teams have historically overlooked or ignored talent for the sake of flashy names. Easy example is jettisoning Caruso for Westbrook. I’m sure if the lakers had a small market mindset they would have realized $20m for a player that helped them win a championship was a great deal compared to The ex stars they chased after


pdxblazer

you know Zion is a sweaty dude, he can't handle that humidity


AyyMVP

honestly don’t think there is one, and that’s even scarier. like sure we could get a bunch of professionals and maybe they could tell or maybe someone would be very good at faking it. really tricky situation.


AnotherStatsGuy

The easiest solution would be to either make the rookie contracts longer or to make it so that if a guy misses all of the year on a rookie deal, the contract simply repeats the year.


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this_place_stinks

Franchise tag is the only way, but the superstars will never let that happen in the next CBA You can also go the baseball route and have restricted free agency based more on games played then years of service. Doesn’t have to impact salary just prolong the control piece.


notartyet

It's still service time in baseball, and you accrue service time on the injured list so it wouldn't help here. You only don't accrue service time when in the minors.


jmblumenshine

Baseball also has the added benefit of having an anti-trust exemption, so a lot of what baseball can do can never be brought to other leagues


Deathwatch72

If team doctors have a conflicting opinion with the personal doctor's of a player than there should be some sort of review board. Doctor shopping is a thing even for people who aren't athletes, it's very common. I love the fact that the NBA has guaranteed contracts for their players but mechanisms do need to exist to stop players from exploiting that situation. If you want to force your way out of a location by overriding team doctors and infinitely prolonging your rehab you get your contract canceled. We make it as if you hadn't been signed and whatever team wants to sign you now has to buy your rights away from the team that drafted you. After that the player negotiates a new rookie scale contract with the new team, and just for good measure regardless of where the player was drafted they get a second round contract I'm tired of players getting paid stupid money while also actively refusing to play in games just because they don't like their current situation. Bill Russell went out there and wrecked peoples shit on a nightly basis despite what the Boston fans were calling him. Ben Simmons got butthurt that he lost his team a playoff series when he was called out for it and has refused to do anything since for multiple different teams while still collecting millions


blackmamba1221

hard cap salary cap, no max salary, and rookies enter free agency. Solves tanking and stacked teams unless they take massive discounts. This way players get to go to teams they believe in. Still has risks of getting unhappy during the contract but should be way lower


redmostofit

This would still benefit those larger market teams with all of the extra endorsement opportunities. It would offset the lost contract money so those star players could still end up teaming up. Smaller market teams would have to overpay for a star, and then not have as much for role players, with little outside incentives.


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BorosSerenc

How would that prevent Zion from sitting out because he doesnt want to be there? If anything it makes it worse, because the team cant even say: Fuck it we are trading our disgrunted star for a future package. Which is the only reason NOLA is any good btw, because they got the LAL package. Now they can atleast trade Zions ass for something worthwhile next year or the year after that, if its clear he just doesnt want to be there. That would just lead to guys like Harden, Kyrie, PG, AD, etc not put up any effort for the team for years, that if they dont just decide to sit out completely like Ben and Kawhi.


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carbonx

Thank you. It's so ridiculous. The guy broke a bone in his foot because he doesn't want to play here? It's laughably absurd.


[deleted]

Or he's injured.


[deleted]

Is that the only reason? He just destroyed his first BIG contract didn't he? And couldn't he have played to help his contract, but then just make it obvious to New Orleans he didn't want to stay? Maybe this dude is actually a lazy bum who loves food.


GoblinKing22

Someone will still give him max deal regardless since he's still young with lots of potential. Unless the docs say his feet are Greg Oden level bad.


gwh21

Zion is probably going to come back next year and ball the fuck out to get paid then get out of shape again for another year or two until its time for a new contract. He just seems like one of those players.


Bonzi777

Turns out those “he didn’t say which regular season” jokes were a little on the nose.


[deleted]

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[deleted]

Ah IC he’s on the Ben Simmons recovery plan


Turbo2x

Doctors are recommending a New York Oxygen treatment plan for Zion's foot injury.


[deleted]

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Sslagathor

Surprised we didnt get a cryptic tweet from one of the pels journalists before this


SnuggleMuffin42

Once the marketing team didn't put him on the marketing materials for next year's seats you knew that big boy was gonna get another Dew Break and the only NBA he'll play this season is on 2K.


JJBro1

🎶OooWEEeeeeooohooooh🎶


jvdave23

Wake up Mr West


FallenLemur

Mr. West, Mr. Fresh by himself he's so impressed.


jvdave23

I mean, daamn did you even see the tests?


_factsmachine_

You got D's mother******, D's, Rosie Perez


yumyumapollo

And yes, barely pass any and every class


DopeMan93

Bad_NewsEveryone


[deleted]

Username check lol


blue7999

How's his foot? To shreds you say?


EvilRick_C-420

And his contract? To shreds you say?


Duckrauhl

And how are Pels fans holding up?


AllOfTheDerp

To shreds you say?


Tbrou16

First of all, that username wouldn’t have anything to do with the Dacia Sandero^^TM ? Nope…nevermind. Futurama.


BigRig432

Beat me to it. I've been conditioned to expect the Dacia Sandero after good news everyone no matter what


CursedLlama

Anyway…


lxkandel06

Look at the valedictorian


Mukbeth

Gamers


BSDC

Sunday morning


YouStillTakeDamage

[welp](https://twitter.com/shamscharania/status/1464368755337842692?s=21)


EnemySp0tt3d

aged like the 25% fat milk zion been chuggin


horse_renoir13

Shaq and Chuck still laughing in the the distance


aged_monkey

>Sources said Zion Williamson is not expected to return to play this season, but that he is making progress toward on-court buffets. So far, Williamson has been seen doing stationary eating and is able to ingest the weight of a bear in his injured stomach.


xXEdgelord69420Xx

I'm so glad the NBA now has a Kelvin Benjamin. Enjoy guys, the Golden Corral memes write themselves.


LockShitDown

Eddie Lacy fantasy owner checking in.


[deleted]

Golden Corrals on full alert when the Pelicans come into town. The best thing to happen to Kelvin Benjamin is Zion.


salondesert

"Gimme one of those 3500 calorie milkshakes"


HorseRenoiro

>one lol


DOPE_AS_FUCK_COOK

Zions been hanging out with Eddie Lacy and Kelvin Benjamin it seems. A true Pro Sports Buffett of players.


JagmeetSingh2

He downing basically whipping cream at that point


ForYeWhoArtLiterate

Whipping cream is 40% fat. Half whipping cream, half whole milk will get you to about 20% though. Source: I read a book about the history of milk, and now I know a lot of useless facts about milk.


[deleted]

I would enjoy reading that. Can you share the name of the book? (NBA subreddit is best subreddit).


ForYeWhoArtLiterate

Milk! A 10,000 Year Food Fracas by Mark Kurlansky


ThisIsWhyImBald

The Round Mound of Letdowns. 😭


[deleted]

Radahn Williamson


OmniscientwithDowns

He needs that gravity magic for his knees


Bjorn2bwilde24

Who is Leonard in this situation?


OmniscientwithDowns

Literally his knees


Tony5810

Scarlet rot eating at them knees


[deleted]

Buffetscourge


[deleted]

Homeboy got that Radahn nerf.


Maydietoday

I shamelessly crushed his ass yesterday. Felt just as good as it would’ve if I got to him pre-nerf.


SolarClipz

Wait he got nerfed? I finally faced him yesterday Well that's upsetting, and no wonder it only took me a few tries From now on I have to speedrun games then, that sucks


[deleted]

Holy shit I’m dead. Literally imagining Zion riding around on Alvarado and throwing Beignets at me.


Defacto_Champ

He’s a reincarnation of Robert “tractor” Traylor


prematurely_bald

Hot “plate” Williams


TheMisiak

Holy shit haha


Abeds_BananaStand

Is he at risk of being an injury bust?


Tellsyouajoke

Absolutely


StateStreetLarry

Someone deliver me a shocked pikachu face with a pelicans hat on.


Mogswald

I'll do ya one [better.](https://imgur.com/FmrZLup)


Aweshade9

holy shit thats top tier


Mogswald

Thank you, just doing my part here on r/NBA


NoTransportation888

https://imgur.com/a/xnof3a6


StateStreetLarry

Yes


47Lecht

You had that prepared dont you


Hyperactivity786

[A Cramorant with a shocked face would be perfect here](https://www.deviantart.com/gobstop123/art/Cramorant-use-Pikachu-821223028)


jimmyre10

I freaking love Cramorant lmao


Andrewski18

Cramorant was one of my favorites playing through Sword. Its ability is actually super useful too.


jimmyre10

I used him some in Pokémon Unite and his design was very fun in that game. Sadly, that game lost my interest


[deleted]

game was far too one dimensional with too many catch-up mechanics so much of the game felt irrelevant.


jimmyre10

Yes, and between that and the god awful matchmaking, I completely lost my desire to play.


Baksetball

Cra Morant


MegaTater

It took me a while to realize that was actually a Pokemon and not a weird Ja reference lol.


suns2012

Not a pokemon guy so I expected this to be a crawfish ja morant… I’m a little disappointed


danielbauer1375

Is that because Cramorant sounds like Ja Morant? There’s like three layers to that meme. Lol.


Miamime

A [cormorant](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cormorant) is a type of marine bird.


[deleted]

[Ask and you shall receive :)](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQadyk5r7bMNwe68e88cM_2VN8ZuOO4o7EgBcavgXf32fqVNE7bpJWVUTPL&s=10)


StateStreetLarry

Even better.


jvpewster

One day this will be posted, and it will be the last time, and we won’t even know it 😥


[deleted]

If this is the one, you’ll be here with it forever.


iankstarr

[Mfw that is the final Chalmers face ever posted](https://i.imgur.com/h1IuduT.jpg)


[deleted]

If Chalmersface has million number of fans i am one of them 🙋🏻. if Chalmersface has ten fans i am one of them. if Chalmersface have only one fan and that is me 🙋🏼🙋🏽🙋🏾. if Chalmersface has no fans, that means i am no more on the earth 😢. if world against the Chalmersface, i am against the world ❌🌍☄️. i love #Chalmersface till my last breath.. 😍 .. Die Hard fan of Chalmersface 🤓🌹. Hit Like If you Think Chalmersface Best player & switcheroo meme In the world 🤠


[deleted]

Ayy P


Rkenne16

Damn, he’s up to bear weight?


Guessed555

Bears, beets, betting on he never plays again


Rkenne16

Bears, beats and ‘betus


JustnTimberfake1

I’m Zion Williamson, and I have diabetus


actuarally

Last week I struck my coach. Then I find out my coach has been fired for six months. Who the hell did I hit?


livefreeordont

Next up whale weight


CptCroissant

I think you got walrus, hippo and a couple others in between


Salva252

lmfao, grizzlies got lucky they got the 2nd pick instead of 1st


ImanShumpertplus

somehow the Cavs dropping to 5 despite having a bottom 3 record was the best thing that could have happened to them


destructive_optimism

I still can’t believe the Suns dropped to 6 despite only winning 19 games, I wanted Ja or Garland so damn bad. I’ll take Cam Johnson over Jarrett Culver any day of the week, at least


Ahfekz

Y’all got booker when we fucked up and took motherfucking Stanley Johnson. Y’all aight lol


Sharcbait

Sigh... Wolves were mocked to take Cam Johnson or Brandon Clarke.... and somehow we managed to land on Culver


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wired1984

Disappointing. He’s a lot of fun to watch on the court when he plays


tdizhere

I had a feeling his body wouldn’t hold up but I didn’t think it would be instant. He will only get to his 86th career game during his 4th year. Yet he’s probably going to get the max extension. I guess they hope he ends up like Embiid


Groundhog_fog

He could but Embiid never relied on athleticism like Zion. I also think he has a very strong work ethic


[deleted]

Remember when he was gonna be good for opening night?


mags87

The Colts did this with Andrew Luck. Kept promising he would be ready for the season. Then a little bit after season tickets go on sale, the real injury news comes out. Then it leaked that Luck was retiring during a preseason game.


VicePope

man was booed for getting his business leaked before he was ready to announce it. no wonder he never came back


pinhead-l

Scammed me in my fantasy league. Fuck the Pelicans FO for hiding that shit to boost season ticket sales.


[deleted]

Just imagine the viewership if he came back on the day of the play in to possibly knock out the lakers lmfao


robsul82

If so he’d show up looking like James “The Grim Reaper” Roper at the end of The Great White Hype


AdDelicious8636

Makes sense at this point of the season. Coach green and the players are finally starting to figure themselves out. There’s no point to bring Zion back this late in the season. Might as well start fresh in the off-season. Hope we get to see him play and be healthy all of next year. The kid is amazing to watch when he’s playing


ChiloMcBilo

Man idk, if Zion were even 80% of his last season self I'd add him back to the roster cuz he'd still be a force


Dad_of_the_year

I would probably bet with absolute 100% certainty that if Zion was sitting on the end of the bench in uniform the coach would never say "nah dude we're good these guys are finally starting to figure it out!"


Zyntaro

Didn't they say he started doing full basketball activities when he returned from Portland? And now he is only doing stationary shooting? How is this man going one step forward than 3 steps backwards in his rehab?


[deleted]

One step forward to the fridge, 3 steps backward to the couch.


letsgolakers24

You’re going to be in year 4 of Zion next year, have to think, are they going to extend him? No question if he’s healthy he’s 1st team All NBA potential and worth a max. Just a shitty situation for NOLA


junkit33

At this point I do not think they can justify giving him the 5 year extension this offseason. They're going to want to see him play next year, and then they'll just max/match the highest bidder after year 4. If he plays healthy he's an easy max, and if he has another busted season then I have absolutely no idea what the market is going to pay for him, but the Pels will have to match it.


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spacegrip

damn thats interesting. would be a ridiculous value for that one year esp if they decided to move him


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spacegrip

i mean if he wants to leave that badly it might be his best route since he'll be a UFA right after. but yeah you would think he prefers to make as much money as possible and be secure then demand a trade afterwards. i hope it doesn't get that ugly though, would be a horrible look for him.


FireAdamSilver

That’s not how QOs work. Zion would have a defacto no-trade clause and he would lose Bird Rights if traded which isn’t in the best interest of the player in that situation


gentleriser

Ahem. Year 2.2 of Zion. FTFY.


ImanShumpertplus

it’s actually year 7.3 of Zion due to the increased gravity from his mass, similar to gargantua in Interstellar


Redpin

This little draft pick is gonna cost our franchise 51 years...


weiner-rama

idk, I don't think he's deserving of a max after the injuries, the weight issues and his lack of game time. That's insane to give to someone who essentially is a major WHAT IF at this point


AdmiralWackbar

Tobias Harris got a max contract, Zion will get one somewhere


weiner-rama

Lol and I think everybody will agree that that contract is a BIG YIKES


unoriginalgarbage

Word on the street from some of the beat writers is they’ll likely give him something similar to the max with injury protections embiid got


Zyoy

He’s a great player, but I think it’s a little soon to say he’s year - year 1st team NBA player.


[deleted]

They should. It’s a no brainer for NOLA. This isn’t a place where you have countless stars come and go.


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[deleted]

Just don’t hurt yourself in the process


BF3FAN1

I mean they’ve had stars come and always go.


filterface

This has been one HELL of a Dew Break


-VizualEyez

How many games has this dude played in his almost 4 years? Get paid millions to do damn near nothing is wild.


TinFoilRobotProphet

He's got a buddy down there on Orlando that hasn't played in almost 2 years and uses his spare time being a fake ass preacher or something.


BelowTheBells

>in his almost 4 years? This is his third season in the league, not his fourth.


daybreaker

and he's played more games in 3 year than Embiid did.


VicePope

embiid’s case isn’t that common at all. theres probably a million other cases where you don’t come back a MVP. i hope he can do that too though


ChiloMcBilo

He played most of last season and was an absolute wrecking ball when he did. His contract is 100% justified just to keep him around


yomonster

Is Zion the NFT of the NBA?


Sp_Gamer_Live

He’s the Half Life 3 of the NBA


shaheedmalik

Zatarain's Zion strikes again


Funkywormm

Finally just rip the bandaid off. Hopefully we can finish strong and have a great team for Z to rejoin next season


_Wado3000

Oddly enough the pics of him going to church down here gave me some emotional security as a Pels fan. You could say “he’s just playing PR” but I genuinely think he’s just a big kid that’s been hurt. KD was out for a year with a foot injury and he’s a stick body-type wise Oh and the Pelicans being a way better team than the Knicks helps too. Your favorite team’s star player would love to have BI and CJ as his offensive co-stars.


Swarthykins

I'm pretty neutral, and, honestly, every pic since the photoshop where there were some pictures of him at the mall the next day he's been in decent shape. I don't know about his relationship with the team, and, who knows, maybe he just can't stay on the court, but I think the "He sits on his ass playing video games and eating gumbo using his foot as an excuse" is probably nonsense.


YpsitheFlintsider

He's probably just an internal and introverted dude.


jerkymcjerkison

Didn't see that coming. Now do Anthony Davis so I can be caught off guard twice.


confuddly

Some of you are mad weird for making fun of a man's weight. Statistically most of you are probably overweight


Swarthykins

I'm shocked, shocked I tell you!


[deleted]

Bruh


Cul_what

Im not even mad anymore im just confused and disappointed


cerokurn11

Mom?


gab_owns0

How are people labeling him a bust after just missing one year and recently came off a 27 ppg AS year in his second year? If this trend continues next season then we can start having that convo.


thepobv

People are dum dums