Williamson reveals the low point of his injury-riddled NBA career thus far
It’s been a rollercoaster career for the New Orleans star Zion Williamson. When he was on the pitch, he was dominant, but his injuries were a problem. Zion has been in and out of the lineup since the Pelicans drafted him due to injuries and has had to deal with it consistently. He is currently dealing with an injurytoo, and even said the lowest point of his career was missing the third season because of it.
Zion Williamson visited ESPN’s “NBA Today” and spoke with Malika Andrews in an extended conversation, revealing that the hardest part of his career was missing the entire third season due to a broken foot. It was a low point because he was punching all over his weight, and he wanted to focus primarily on basketball, but he couldn’t.
“The hardest point was when I missed my junior year with a broken leg. … There was a lot of criticism of my weight, my care of the game. … I was really weak because I just wanted to play basketball,” Williamson explained.
Williamson was actually experiencing the healthiest time of his career, playing in 35 consecutive games and 45 overall this season. However, he recently sprained his ankle in Saturday’s win over the Jazz. Despite being healthy, he’s averaging a career-low 21.5 points while tying a career-low 5.8 rebounds per game.
For his career, Williamson has played 259 games while missing a total of 296. Now that number will only grow after his latest sprained ankle.
It’s also worth noting that he’s in the third season of a five-year, $197.2 million deal with the Pelicans. He is making $39.4 million this year and is slated to make $42.2 million next season, and $44.9 million for 2027-28.
Interim coach James Borrego said Williams “twisted his ankle” but had no immediate information on the severity of the injury.
“Hopefully it’s nothing serious and we’ll get him back out there soon,” Borrego said.
2026-03-02 23:19:00
