ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, Jay Williams reveal the latest on Zion Williamson’s tenuous situation with Pelicans

It doesn’t sound as though Zion Williamson is on the best terms with his New Orleans Pelicans teammates or members of the Pelicans front office.

ESPN insider Brian Windhorst appeared on Get Up on ESPN Thursday morning and shared that Williamson hasn’t been around the New Orleans facility much since the Pelicans’ season ended. Williamson played in only 29 games last year while dealing with an injury. He did not play in a game after Jan. 2.

“From what I have been told, Zion has not been around the team much so far this summer. But that is not different than the way he has operated in the past. He hasn’t made it a priority to be around the team as much. He’s worked out on his own,” Windhorst said. “What I’d say is that there’s definitely not the type of relationship that you’d like to have between star player and team here. And also he doesn’t have as strong a relationships with his teammates, from what I am told, as you’d like to see.”

Windhorst later pointed out that the Pelicans can still be successful, even if Williamson and his teammates don’t have a great relationship.

Still, it certainly wouldn’t hurt for Williamson and his teammates to get along on and off the court.

“Now that’s not a prerequisite for success. But as you look to try to build bonds going forward, that is something to consider,” Windhorst said. “The thing is, he did have great relationships and a good bond when he was at Duke. So I’m not sure whether it’s a Pelicans situation or it’s a Zion situation. But it’s something that they have not been able to solve.”

New Orleans recently made a staff change, according to Windhorst, which could have been in response to Williamson not getting along well with some in the Pelicans organization. If the move will help, and how much it does, remains to be seen.

“They have just changed over their training staff. I don’t know how much of an affect that would be,” Windhorst said. “But that is something that has happened in recent days, and I do think there’s a Zion component to that.”

Despite everything that is going on, ESPN analyst Jay Williams said on Get Up that the Pelicans should hang on to Williamson. He views him as an elite talent who can be one of the best players in the NBA when he’s healthy and motivated.

“They would be the No. 1 or the No. 2 seed,” Williams said when asked where the Pelicans would be with a healthy and motivated Williamson. “I think the ceiling with Zion Williamson – I do not trade him. I think he is a generational type talent. I would not put together a package for Scoot Henderson. I think there is a sizeable gap between the ceiling for Scoot Henderson and Zion Williamson.”

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