Pelicans: Why Damian Lillard is the perfect fit with Zion Williamson

The New Orleans Pelicans need to have a big offseason to put the right team around Zion Williamson.

With rumors that Damian Lillard might be available, the Pels immediately became a hypothetical destination, as they are one of the few teams in the NBA with the right combination of young talent and future draft assets to make a trade for Lillard.

I have serious doubts that Lillard is actually available and I’d be shocked if the Trail Blazers traded their franchise icon, but if they do, the Pelicans make a lot of sense.

Some Pels’ fans are adamantly against this idea, as they think Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram have a chance to be the best duo in the NBA, and they might be right.

But what I know for certain is that Lillard and Williamson WOULD be one of the best duos in the NBA right away and would raise the ceiling of what the New Orleans Pelicans can be.

In my opinion, the only reason to hoard all of these draft picks is so you can make a play for a superstar, and while Ingram is a very good player, he is not a superstar yet and the Pelicans need to win if they want to keep Zion Williamson around for the long term.

Lillard is not only a better player now, but the fit with Zion is pretty much perfect.

Pelicans: Zion Williamson and Damian Lillard would be unstoppable on offense

Zion and Ingram were one of the top scoring duos in the NBA last season, so it’s not like the pairing was a problem on offense, but Lillard could take them to another level.

I don’t believe Zion and Ingram are a bad fit per se, but they are both guys who like to to the majority of their scoring from similar spots on the floor. Ingram prefers the mid-range and Zion Williamson generally initiates the offense from the top of the key or free-throw line area, which can cause some spacing issues.

I am not a “spacing Truther” but it’s pretty clear that Lillard would provide more of it than Ingram. Teams pretty much have to guard Lillard the second he crosses half court, and he often draws double teams on the perimeter.

This would open up so much space for Zion to do his thing and defenses would have to choose their poison: Get killed by Dame or get killed by Zion. They would have a chance to be the top scoring duo in the league and run an offense that was virtually unstoppable.