New Orleans Pelicans: It’s time for Zion Williamson to speak up

Zion Williamson has had a nightmare season for the New Orleans Pelicans.

Not only has he missed all of it due to injury, but his reputation and character have been under constant attack, sometimes fairly, other times, not so much.

Zion and the New Orleans Pelicans franchise have also been criticized for their handling of his injury news, as it has been one lengthy silence after another, leaving media and fans to fill in the blanks with speculation.

Things have hit a low point recently, as more murky news emerged that Zion Williamson may need a second surgery on his foot, which would complicate his extension and potentially put next season in jeopardy as well.

Then Zion was put on blast during All-Star weekend, when new teammate CJ McCollum admitted that he had yet to speak to the star of the team.

This has led to widespread speculation (again) that this is further proof that Zion doesn’t want to be in New Orleans and is not dedicated to his team.

While I think this is being way overblown, I do think it’s time that Zion Williamson speaks up.

Does Zion Williamson want to be the face of the New Orleans Pelicans?

I do think fans need to relax with all of the conspiracy theories and speculation. Some fans act as though Zion’s every action has some kind of hidden meaning or ulterior motive.

We sometimes forget that Zion is just 21-years-old, is not a polished at dealing with the media and may be getting some less than great advice from people in his camp.

But young or not, it’s not a great look for a guy who has been billed as the face of the franchise to have no public (or private) response to a guy like CJ McCollum joining his team. This isn’t that difficult, all you have to do is Tweet or pick up the phone and say “Hey CJ, welcome to the team!”

These are things that Zion will hopefully learn over time, but they are part of being a team’s best player and the guy they are actively building around.

This is especially true in a season where Zion’s silence has been deafening, as he’s mostly been away from the team and not heard from other than a couple of fan photos, which hasn’t helped his cause.

I’ve been defending Zion’s right to privacy all season and I do think he has no obligation to constantly share updates about what is going on with his health, particularly when he faces backlash about his weight and conditioning every time he does.

But I really don’t know what Zion or his camp think he has to gain by remaining silent all of the time, especially when there was a clear PR win for him just sitting there with the addition of McCollum.

Now would be a great time for him to speak up, give an honest update on his injury, talk about how excited he is to play with the New Orleans Pelicans and put all of this nonsense to rest.

Until he does, we are just going to get more speculation about his intentions and you can’t blame fans for filling in the silence.