The leading decision-maker for the Pelicans says not to believe what you are hearing about Zion Williamson.
David Griffin, the team’s EVP of basketball operations, joined Justin Termine and Amin Alhassan on SiriusXM NBA on Wednesday and talked about Williamson’s relationship with the team.
“I would say that it’s as good as it’s ever been,” Griffin said, noting that Williamson was coming out to join the team at NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.
Williamson played in just 29 games this past season, after missing the entire season before that, as he battles a foot injury and self-admitted dieting struggles.
There have been trade rumors percolating about Williamson, which Griffin claims were unfounded.
“I think what’s unfortunate is that he’s a name that generates clicks no matter what the link says,” Griffin continued.
“Zion puts on his socks. People click on that. So it makes it really easy for people to manufacture rumor around him — because they don’t have to have any actual credibility behind what they say to generate clicks.
“As a society, this isn’t [just] true of sports, this is true across all platforms — reality doesn’t matter anymore. Generating clicks matters. So unfortunately for Zion, he’s just an oddity and somebody that people pay a great deal of attention to and manufacture a lot of stories around.”
Before the draft, The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported that the Pelicans would “look hard internally” at a trade package involving Williamson and Scoot Henderson, who went third overall to the Blazers.
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ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported that the Pelicans held some “cursory discussions” about Williamson and that the rest of the league was “wondering” if he could become available.
Nonetheless, Griffin said that Williamson’s name “never” came up in talks.
“We never had a single [trade] conversation that Zion was part of,” Griffin said.
“I think people perceived that we would be willing to move off of Zion because of all the injuries, because there’s always so much noise around Zion.
“Fortunately for us, the noise never matches what we’re actually experiencing.”
Williamson averaged 26 points and 7.0 rebounds per game last season.
Griffin further claimed that no other teams even called to inquire about Williamson’s availability because it was known around the NBA how much he means to the franchise’s plan.
In addition to the trade rumors, it’s been a wild offseason for Williamson.
Former adult film star and OnlyFans creator Moriah Mills made persistent claims about their sexual relationship after the NBA star was part of a gender reveal announcing that he and girlfriend Ahkeema are expecting a daughter together.
