Signing(s): Zion Williamson signs max extension (5 years, $231 million)

[Mrfenn92]

Gonna be 500 pounds by the end of this deal

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[No Fun Shogun]

Just hope he can get and stay healthy for New Orleans.

 

[Maple Leaf]

Is he going to play 5 years?

 

[Turbonium]

Is he going to play 5 games?

FIFY

 

[BB88]

This just seems so wild

 

[hockey20000]

would not of given him it tbh... but new oreleans probs had no choice .

 

[Canes]

If basketball doesn't work out, maybe the Saints can sign him to be their left tackle.

 

[John Price]

Didn't he want to leave lol

 

[HoseEmDown]

Why does he get 40M more than Morant, who's actually playing? Also why sign this guy when he clearly was healthy enough to play, posted workout videos, and yet said he wasn't ready? I know you don't want to let a potential franchise walk for free but this deal seems like a huge handicap going forward.

 

[StreetHawk]

Is he going to play 5 years?

More like be healthy for those 410 RS games?

Over under probably what like 300 or under as to the number of games he plays during this contract? Maybe less given his early track record.

 

[JeffreyLFC]

If basketball doesn't work out, maybe the Saints can sign him to be their left tackle.

Making more than a star QB at the NFL... that is insanity.

 

[Skinnyjimmy08]

WTF is this?? Seriously??

All cause he was #1 overall

Wow

 

[HockeyThoughts]

WTF is this?? Seriously??

All cause he was #1 overall

Wow

He's also a really good player. Just with significant injury and conditioning concerns.

 

[Skinnyjimmy08]

He's also a really good player. Just with significant injury and conditioning concerns.

ya hes unreal when healthy and actually playing... just kinda seems like a massive contract like this didnt need to happen due to the fact of his serious health concerns and is a big time eater lol

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

Over/Under 100 total games played over the length of the contract...

 

[OKR]

Why does he get 40M more than Morant, who's actually playing? Also why sign this guy when he clearly was healthy enough to play, posted workout videos, and yet said he wasn't ready? I know you don't want to let a potential franchise walk for free but this deal seems like a huge handicap going forward.

It was Pelicans who didn’t want him playing, both times Zion missed significant time he stated he wanted to return earlier but wasn’t cleared.

 

[dahrougem2]

Said it while he was in college but a guy as big and heavy as him moving at the speed and jumping at the force he does routinely, it's not going to end well.

I give it 3 years before the Pelicans are looking to do anything to move this contract. Nothing to do with his skills either because he's a tremendous basketball player but I don't believe his health/conditioning will hold up.

 

[Voight]

Why does he get 40M more than Morant, who's actually playing? Also why sign this guy when he clearly was healthy enough to play, posted workout videos, and yet said he wasn't ready? I know you don't want to let a potential franchise walk for free but this deal seems like a huge handicap going forward.

My guess is because his rookie deal was higher for a #1 pick

The thing with him is he ends up playing, you potentially have one of the best players in the league locked in for 5 years. The risk is if you let him walk out the door and he turns into a star elsewhere, you will look like an absolute idiot.

Hence why Portland kept Oden around for as long as they did.

 

[My3Sons]

He's actually gotten in pretty good shape and lost some of the extra weight he was carrying and looks a bit buff compared to the chubbiness he showed early in the season when he started his rehab. If he keeps his conditioning up and the NBA actually calls some of the clotheslines that opposition forwards use to defend him when he goes up to the basket he might make it to the end of the contract in one or at most two pieces. When he's played he's been a revelation which is why NO gambled on this. When he last played, he averaged 27 pts, 61% fg, 7 Reb, 4 Asst, 1 steal, 70% fg across 61 games on a terrible team that had no direction and no engagement. He now joins a young team that is growing with a good coach that the players want to play for, a galvanizing playoff run that he watched from the bench, and some reinforcements to the deep team that ended the last season. If he's ever going to be the player he was projected to be, it's going to start this season. I can understand why NO did this.

Two other things, (1) there are apparently some injury protections for the team in the contract, and (2) there is not a player option for the fifth year. Getting a buy in commitment from Williamson to go with the buy in commitment from Ingram solidifies NO as an actual NBA team instead of just a farm team for big markets. That's been important for them.

If they stay healthy next season they should win over 50 games but of course that's a big "if". In the summer league alone they lost one second round pick to a torn ACL and another to hand lacerations requiring stitches, their first round pick sprained an ankle, and they lost a few unheralded guys such that they ended summer league with only 8 guys capable of playing. That's just been an Achilles heel for them. NO being NO if they were smart they'd invoke some esoteric dieties and make some burnt offerings to the medical gods.