Zion Williamson has been out all season for the New Orleans Pelicans which has led to wide-spread speculation and a lot of nonsense.
This intensified when “news” broke that Zion was rehabbing in Portland and not with the team, as some (Knicks fans) saw this as a sign that he wasn’t happy with NOLA.
It got even worse when the Knicks traded for Zion’s former teammate Cam Reddish to add with another Duke player R.J. Barrett, as why wouldn’t Zion want to play with his old buddies right?
Knicks fans ran with it and I can’t blame them, as their team is bad, doesn’t have a ton of talent and for some reason they think every good player wants to be there, though there is little evidence that is true considering they have one of, if not the worst owner in the NBA, which is one thing they would agree with.
I’ve seen a lot of fake trades floating around, but I’m just going to go ahead and say that the Knicks aren’t getting Zion Williamson in a trade with the New Orleans Pelicans.
Zion Williamson to the Knicks is laughable
Let’s start with the trade I’ve seen floating around, which is obviously coming from Knicks fans and not anyone associate with the league.
In this fantasy world, the Knicks would be trading Obi Toppin, Julius Randle, Immanuel Quickley and a bunch of draft picks for Zion Williamson.
For starters this doesn’t even work financially without the Pelicans sending back more contracts, so now they are giving up more than just Zion for this poo poo platter that includes one guy who barely plays for a bad team (Toppin) a mediocre guard (Quickley) and Julius Randle, a guy who is 27 and has regressed this season from his big breakout last year and makes way too much money.
Sorry, but that’s insane, but I’ll try to play along for a minute.
If the Pelicans trade Zion Williamson, it won’t be to the Knicks
There is absolutely no indication that the Pelicans are trying to trade Zion Williamson, who is one of the best young players in the history of basketball when he is healthy, which granted, hasn’t been much in his short career.
The Pelicans are likely to ink Zion to a huge extension in the offseason that might have gotten a little more affordable after he is likely to miss all of this one.
But if they did decide to trade him for some reason, there are certainly better offers out there than anything the Knicks could put on the table and any deal that didn’t bring back a superstar is a non-starter.
Even though Zion has been hurt, he still has more trade value than just about any young player in the league, so if the Pels were to shop him just about every team would be interested.
Julius Randle is a nice player, but he’s not getting you Zion, and I love how these Knicks deals all manage to keep their best young player off the table in favor of guys like Toppin and Quickley, who project to be role players at best.
There would be teams lined up to beat this offer, so no, you’re not getting Zion for a bunch of guys you don’t want.
Trading Zion Williamson now would be the height of stupidity
Remember the old Wall Street saying “Buy high, sell low!” No? That’s because no one in their right mind would tell you to sell an asset when it is at its lowest value, which Zion Williamson currently is.
No high profile player in the history of the NBA has failed to sign a rookie extension, as doing so would be giving up a ton of money and there is no reason not to do it anyway, as stars can always manipulate trades to other teams even after signing their extension, as Pels’ fans know all too well.
The Pelicans still control Zion Williamson’s fate for the foreseeable future and are under no pressure to trade him now considering he still has another year after this one under team control.
Even if Zion decided to lose tons of money by not signing the max to stay in New Orleans, they could always trade him next season, when he will hopefully be healthy and his value will be sky high.
I totally understand why Knicks fans want to believe they are getting Zion, as I probably would too if I lived in New York, but it’s not happening, so let’s just put that one to rest.