Stop Whining about Zion Williamson Getting Special Treatment

There’s a small corner of the Internet that won’t stop whining about the “special” treatment the New Orleans Pelicans are getting because of Zion Williamson.

One of the stories surrounding the potential NBA restart is that the league is looking for any way to include the New Orleans Pelicans because they want Zion Williamson to be involved.

Everyone from NBC Sports to Yahoo to every NBA blog in existence has written about the great travesty of the NBA actually wanting to feature one of its most popular players.

The conspiracy theorists are working overtime to come up with reasons why this is an injustice and the ESPN/Bleacher Report haters who think all coverage is about LeBron James and Zion are patting themselves on the back and saying “see, we told you the league would cheat for Zion!”

Please stop.

There is no conspiracy, the NBA is openly trying to come up with a format to include as many teams as possible in whatever type of re-start they end up choosing, whether it be a play-in tournament, some type of playoff “plus” or just a standard 16-team playoff.

The NBA is seeking less traditional solutions because these are not traditional times. They’d like to have some conclusion to this season but can’t overlook the fact that the world is in a midst of pandemic, there isn’t time to finish the season the normal way and they’ve already lost a load of money.

When weighing options they have the health and safety of staff and players to consider, as well as what will actually entertain and satisfy NBA fans. It’s a lot to take into account and that’s before you start asking how to go about being fair to everyone.

The NBA has every reason to want to include Zion Williamson and people need to stop crying about it.

Here’s why.