It's time to have an honest discussion about some of the discourse surrounding Pelicans superstar Zion Williamson.
Quite frankly, it's been unfair to all parties involved.
As most know by now, Williamson, who was selected first overall in the 2019 NBA Draft, has been plagued by injury throughout the first three years of his NBA career. A torn right meniscus in 2019 and a fractured right foot in 2021 have limited Williamson to just 85 games through his first three NBA seasons and unfortunately, there's still no clear return date in sight.
MORE: How long is Zion Williamson out? Injury timeline, return date, latest updates
Somehow, the discussion has devolved from what it should be, which is the misfortune of a young man that wants to forge his legacy as a star in the NBA, to what it is now: jokes and memes labeling him a "bust," many crossing boundaries regarding Williamson's weight and future in the league.
For likes and retweets, many jump at the chance to liken Williamson to Greg Oden, which, in addition to being unfair to Williamson, is also unfair to Oden, who, in 2014, played his last NBA game at the age of 26. At 34, Oden has transitioned into making an impact as a member of the coaching staff at his alma mater of Ohio State.
Oden didn't follow the trajectory of a typical No. 1 pick, but let's not demean the fact that he's found his purpose in the basketball world despite having plenty of reasons to abandon the game.
😄 Singing our way ho❌e pic.twitter.com/R4hQaZJDch
— Ohio State Hoops (@OhioStateHoops) February 13, 2022
Yes, Oden missed the entirety of his rookie season due to injury and only appeared in 82 games through his first three NBA seasons, but to compare the plights of two young men that simply want to play basketball is an upsetting, disingenuous, glass-half-empty approach that is becoming all too common. Neither of them asked to get hurt.
You know who else never asked to get hurt? 76ers MVP candidate Joel Embiid.
First things first, comparison is the thief of joy, but if we're going to compare Williamson's plight to that of anyone else, why not Embiid? Is the glass-half-full approach too optimistic?
Embiid, who broke the navicular bone in his right foot days before the 2014 NBA Draft, missed the entirety of his first two NBA seasons due to numerous setbacks with his injury. It was a peculiar situation: he was made off-limits to the media while concerns surrounding his maturity, conditioning and weight loomed.
As a third-year rookie, Embiid took the league by storm with averages of 20.2 points and 7.8 rebounds per game, but a torn left meniscus ended his season in January, meaning he had tallied just 31 total games in the three years since Philadelphia drafted him.
If Philadelphia could just bottle that up and get those types of contributions from Embiid at a larger scale, surely he'd be an All-Star in the NBA, right? Spoiler alert: he earned his first of five consecutive All-Star selections at 23 and could be hoisting the NBA's MVP award at the end of the 2021-22 season.
Williamson also took the league by storm as a rookie, doing so at the age of 19. New Orleans' franchise player proved to be well worth the three-month wait, posting averages of 22.5 points and 6.3 rebounds on 58.3 percent shooting in under 28 minutes per game, including one of the most memorable debuts in the history of the NBA.
At 20, Williamson earned the first All-Star selection of his career, posting averages of 27.0 points and 7.2 rebounds per game while shooting 61.1 percent from the field over 61 games. Newsflash: "busts" don't average 27.0 points per game or start in All-Star Games in their second season. Future MVPs, however, do.
That brings us to where we are today.
Williamson's breakout All-Star campaign only increased anticipation for his third season, but news of his injury was a blow to the excitement of basketball fans worldwide. At what point did people go from disappointed fans to cruel pessimists? There are much more constructive ways to express such disappointment.
Not only did Williamson not ask to be hurt, but he also didn't ask for his injury to heal improperly. In December, it was revealed that the injection Williamson received was to stimulate the healing in his foot. As indicated with Embiid's navicular injury in 2014, setbacks are common with foot injuries, but especially among bigger players. History supports that taking the cautious approach is important for the long run.
With respect to the long run, New Orleans has the potential to do something special with a trio of Williamson, Brandon Ingram and CJ McCollum.
NBA TRADE GRADES: Did Pelicans or Trail Blazers win the CJ McCollum swap?
That said, can we stop with the narratives that push Williamson away from the franchise? And please stop trying to push the Pelicans out of the city of New Orleans. The Saints will always be No. 1 but that shouldn't be an indictment of the state of professional basketball in the city.
It's just as disingenuous and unfair to New Orleans to act as though it's the only NBA city in which basketball doesn't reign supreme, and it discounts the amount of real Pelicans fans that are invested in this franchise.
Trust me, they're a lot of them.
Now, I do admit that the situation with the Pelicans is also peculiar. The lack of consistent updates and the choice for Williamson to continue his rehabilitation away from the team in Oregon should cause you to raise an eyebrow. I certainly have.
JJ Redick labeling Williamson a "detached teammate" was a bit harsh, but, given their prior relationship as teammates, might not have been completely off-base, especially considering it was in response to news that Williamson had not reached out to McCollum over a week after the trade.
MORE: JJ Redick rips Pelicans' Zion Williamson on 'First Take'
On a recent episode of the "Dan Le Batard Show," Stan Van Gundy, who coached Redick and Williamson last season, added the type of context that often gets lost in these discussions, saying “when [Williamson's] not playing – off-season, breaks, injured, whatever – I think he just wants to be by himself. I think he doesn’t like not playing, he wants to be by himself and get ready, that’s a big part of it.
"And at that point, all he wants to do is get back and play to re-attach.”
McCollum himself addressed the saga, telling reporters to "leave the young fella alone, man. He’s trying to rehab in peace, trying to get himself ready to come back."
Williamson's newest teammate continued, adding "He’s going through a lot. You guys are putting him on the spot on the daily and I think he’s just trying to recover on his own time and really focus on his rehab. I’ve been injured before, so I know what it’s like. You feel disconnected."
Catching up with CJ about his All-Star break, Zion, his relationship with Dame and his NOLA community efforts #Pelicans | @Verizon pic.twitter.com/o558Cn1QQv
— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) February 24, 2022
That said, Williamson is just 21 years old. Age shouldn't be an excuse for everything but most everyone that has been 21 before will attest that at that age, you're still figuring things out.
So please, let's give Williamson some grace as he figures things out and works to get back on the floor, where he wows us on a nightly basis.
We might not know exactly when, but we know that when he's back, he'll pick up right where he left off.
