Most of the chatter about Zion Williamson wanting to go elsewhere or trying to force his way out of New Orleans has fallen on deaf ears to this point.
I mean, sure. He could leave New Orleans. But it’d take a whole lot for that to happen and none of it really seems likely.
He’ll be a restricted free agent after next season. The Pelicans would have first right of refusal on an open market for any long-term deal at the very least. It never felt likely that Williamson would be in anything other than a Pelicans jersey for the foreseeable future.
But one email to Pelicans’ season ticket holders just brought out all of the collective eye emojis on the internet.
The Pelicans sent out an email to their season ticket holders doing the usual prodding to see who would renew. Y’all know how that goes. In those emails, the teams always include their best and most popular players. The ones that sell the tickets.
You know who wasn’t on there? You guessed it. The Pelicans’ number one overall pick from 3 seasons ago — Zion Williamson.
“Led by new Head Coach Willie Green and players Brandon Ingram, Jonas Valanciunas and CJ McCollum, the Pelicans are building something special across the street from the Caesars Superdome.”
Sheesh. Now, look. There’s plausible deniability here. Ingram, Valanciunas and McCollum are playing right now. They’re currently building something. Zion is obviously not, because he’s out and away from the team.
But they could also easily change that copy to include Williamson. That’s not a hard thing to do at all. And this — along with a report that executives around the NBA are bracing for a potential trade demand from Williamson — will not inspire any confidence in Pelicans fans or Williamson’s future in New Orleans.
This situation is starting to balloon into a big mess. NBA fans are loving it, of course.
