New Orleans Pelicans: Zion Williamson Will be a Factor in the League’s Decision
Whether the New Orleans Pelicans get to finish their season may have less to do with their seeding and more to do with rookie Zion Williamson.
If the New Orleans Pelicans get a chance at the playoffs it will be in part because of the popularity of rookie Zion Williamson.
Rumors have been circulating about various formats the NBA could adopt if and when they finally resume play.
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This could include a 16-team playoff, some sort of play-in tournament for the final seeds or even a World Cup-style group stage format.
Whatever the NBA chooses, Zion will be part of the decision.
According to Tom Haberstroh of NBC Sports, one name keeps coming up when he talks about the season with executives around the league:
Just about everybody in the league is wondering how many teams will be going to Orlando if/when the NBA season resumes. 16? 20? 24? 30? In my conversations with several team execs, one detail keeps coming up: Zion Williamson is on a No. 10 seed.
— Tom Haberstroh (@tomhaberstroh) May 26, 2020
This might seem unfair to teams like the Memphis Grizzlies, who are currently 3.5 games ahead of the New Orleans Pelicans in the standings.
But the Pelicans were surging, so it’s also unfair to pretend like they didn’t have a realistic chance to catch the Grizzlies if the season were played in full. They did.
It’s also unrealistic to think the NBA won’t consider ratings as a factor when making their decision.
The New Orleans Pelicans went from 13 nationally televised games in 2018-19 to 30 games this year. I wonder why? Zion brings eyeballs to games that wouldn’t otherwise be there.
Zion was already one of the most popular athletes in the world before he even made his debut for the New Orleans Pelicans.
According to Google Trends, Zion was the 8th most searched athlete in 2019, numbers mostly compiled before he was even in the NBA.
He was one of only two NBA players on the list for 2019 and will likely be near the top when Google compiles their numbers for 2020.
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You can’t blame the NBA for wanting to cash in on their prized rookie, especially after losing revenue to the China scandal as well as the COVID-19 shutdown.
The New Orleans Pelicans are just hoping for a chance to play meaningful games and don’t really care how or why it happens.
It may anger some fans, but the league has a vested interest in getting Zion into the playoffs and will probably do what it can to make it happen.
Next. The 7 most hyped rookies of the last 20 years. dark