Zion Williamson said earlier in the offseason that he hasn’t felt this good since his college and high school days. He hasn’t looked this good either.
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Whether it is actually going to lead to Williamson staying on the court, let alone producing, is another question entirely.
But it is a good thing that Williamson is feeling strong, because he is going to have to shoulder the weight of an entire organisation this season.
General manager Joe Dumars, the face of a new-look Pelicans front office, was adamant this isn’t a playoffs-or-bust season, telling reporters he hasn’t “put that expectation on anyone”.
“It wasn’t like, ‘Okay, we made this trade, I expect to make the playoffs.’ That’s shortsighted to me,” Dumars added.
But you know what also was shortsighted? The decision to trade an unprotected 2026 first-round pick to the Atlanta Hawks in order to move up and select Derik Queen at 13th overall.
That first-round pick, in case you missed it, will be the most favourable one between the Pelicans and Milwaukee Bucks because of a previous clause in the Jrue Holiday trade in 2020.
That, by the way, came after they already traded Indiana’s top-four protected 2026 first-round pick, which could be valuable with Tyrese Haliburton injured, back to the Pacers for their 23rd pick in the 2025 draft, which they later flipped to move up to take Queen.
So, Dumars may be telling the truth when he said he hadn’t put any expectations on anyone that this was a playoffs-or-bust season. But the problem is that he didn’t need to.
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Zion Williamson is looking fit. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)Source: AP
No one needs to spell out why this is such a big season in New Orleans. After all, in case it isn’t clear, Dumars and this Pelicans front office is essentially betting that either they will stay healthy and competitive enough to make the playoffs in a stacked Western Conference or the Bucks will stay afloat and Giannis Antetokounmpo will not request a trade.
Otherwise, if the Bucks struggle and Antetokounmpo asks out, there is every chance they could bottom out and the same goes for the Pelicans, who have a talented albeit young roster that is only really being held together by Williamson.
That’s right, the Pelicans are betting on a player who has only played 214 games in his six seasons in the NBA to stay healthy.
And while the early signs suggest that Williamson could be in for a career year, it is a fine needle to thread, especially considering how much will be on his plate early in the season.
The Pelicans will already be down two locked-in starters in Dejounte Murray and Kevon Looney on opening night, while Jordan Poole doesn’t profile as a traditional point guard running the offence, which could mean more primary ball handling reps for Williamson.
While that would have been an issue in past years, this version of Williamson could be better equipped to take on that added responsibility.
This is different to previous years where the conversation has always centred around whether Williamson is healthy and in shape. This time around, he didn’t even need to answer those questions.
All Williamson had to do was pose for one photograph that the Pelicans then posted on social media and wait for it to go viral. And so, the cycle starts again.
Where we start believing in Williamson again. Where we tell ourselves this is finally the year when he stays on the court and puts it all together.
If it doesn’t work out this time around, it may be hard to ever separate the idea of Zion Williamson from the reality.
It is why ESPN’s front office insider Bobby Marks believes this is a “now or never” season for Williamson.
“He’s in the best condition and shape,” Marks said on ‘The Zach Lowe Show’.
“I just remember last year in March I was in L.A. watching them play the Lakers and he was the best player on the court with LeBron and Luka. He was better than the two of them.
“So, I do think we’re kind of now in a now or never year. If it doesn’t happen now, I don’t know when it ever will be.”
While it is obviously hard to know how much to read into the exhibition game against Melbourne United in the preseason, Williamson did look lighter and faster than ever before as he scored 15 points in 16 minutes.
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Zion looked good down under. (Photo by Kelly Defina/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
In fact, The Athletic’s leading NBA draft expert Sam Vecenie tweeted during the game that Williamson looked “about as good and as in-shape as I’ve seen him since Duke”.
But while Williamson’s health may still be the biggest question mark hanging over the Pelicans entering this season, it isn’t the only one.
What about the defence, which ranked 29th in the league last year, and is so reliant on Herb Jones, who was limited to just 20 regular season games by a shoulder injury?
And how much do they play the rookies Queen and Jeremiah Fears, especially when you consider winning games is only more important this season if they don’t want that draft-day trade to look even worse?
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After all, rookies aren’t always ready for big minutes right away and in the case of Queen, he already was limited throughout the preseason after undergoing surgery on a torn ligament in his left wrist.
But having traded so much for Queen in the first place, will the Pelicans be incentivised to play him more to essentially prove that it was worth giving up so much and, if they are wrong, could they only dig themselves an even deeper hole from which to climb?
After all, while Queen flashed plenty of upside on the offensive end during his college career, he enters the NBA as a massive question mark on defence and outside of Jones, this is a team devoid of any real difference-makers on that side of the ball.
Bill Simmons called the Queen trade “one of the five dumbest of this decade” at the time, while one assistant GM described it to The Athletic as “the worst trade, non-Luka division, that we’ve seen in at least a decade”.
This, of course, is without even knowing where that unprotected 2026 first-round pick will land.
Zion Williamson during a training session at Rod Laver Arena . Picture: Michael KleinSource: News Corp Australia
Just going through the Western Conference, however, it is hard to see this Pelicans team making the playoffs even if Williamson stays healthy given their defensive deficiencies.
The Thunder, Nuggets, Rockets, Warriors, Timberwolves and Clippers all look like locks if healthy, while it is hard to see a team with Luka Doncic and LeBron James, even if they have their own question marks, not featuring in the postseason.
That leaves one more spot with the Spurs, Trail Blazers, Grizzlies, Mavericks and Kings being the likeliest threats to the Pelicans, who more than any of those teams lack the depth to cover any injuries to their starters.
If things go south for New Orleans with no first-round picks to turn things around, could Williamson — who has never appeared in the playoffs — consider a change of scenery and request a trade?
Or, on the same note, could the Pelicans be forced to move off Williamson to recoup future capital and rebuild?
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ESPN NBA insider Tim MacMahon said on the ‘Hoop Collective’ podcast earlier this month that there are teams around the league that would have “significant interest” in Williamson this summer if he was made available via trade.
With so many questions over this roster, headlined by Williamson, it isn’t hard to see why Bleacher Report’s Mo Dakhil labelled New Orleans “the most confusing team in the NBA”.
“I look at this Pelicans team and how they’ve built this team and the moves they’ve made and I have no clue what the plan is,” Dakhil said on ‘The Kevin O’Connor Show’.
“Because this team is not going to compete in the West for a playoff spot.”
O’Connor himself, meanwhile, called it an “impossible spot” that the Pelicans have created for themselves.
“A brand new front office has made it worse with that trade,” he said.
“The fact you gave up, not just your own first, but a swap first involving the Bucks next year to have some flexibility if for some reason something went really wrong with Milwaukee this year.
“The fact you give that up to move up for Derik Queen, who fell in the draft in a bit, who has a lot of major questions about his conditioning, his weight, his defence, his ability to stretch the floor, his maturity level. He is a very raw player.
“… I hope Pelicans fans are patient with him… but the expectations and pressure on him considering the amount they gave up for him is going to be significant.”
Not as significant as the expectations and pressure on Williamson, however, and while in previous years it has been of his own doing, this time around it is the front office’s actions that have the former first overall pick squarely in the spotlight.