Williamson tells us the truth about his diet

For as long as he’s been in the league, the book on Zion Williamson has been that whenever he’s healthy, he’s one of the best offensive players in the NBA. The big caveat there is “when he is healthy.”

Since he entered the NBA, the early portion of Williamson’s career has been marred by injuries. In his first four seasons, he’s only appeared in 114 of the 308  (37%) regular season contests he’s been eligible to participate in. He’s also missed all nine of the play-in/playoff games his team has played in during his tenure with the New Orleans Pelicans.

Many people have speculated that the reason for Williamson’s constant injury issues is his weight. And while many of those claims are severely overblown (he’s still in better shape than most of the human population), it is true that his diet has slowed him down.

In fact, on a recent appearance on Gil’s Arena Show with former NBA player Gilbert Arenas, Williamson opened up about his struggles with his diet:

"“There are times where I will say, ‘Man, that s–t hard.’ It’s hard, man, like 20, 22, it’s a lot of money,” Williamson said. “Feels like all the money in the world, man. It is hard. But I’m at that point now where, because of certain things, I’m putting back wisdom around me. … Just people around me with wisdom, who put me on game to certain things, and go from there.”"

However, the good news is that Williamson does have a plan of action (or a “blueprint,” as he calls it) for remedying his past issues. He explains that later on in his interview:

"“Just locking in on flexibility [and] band work. I think it is those things that will be able to keep me on the court versus just losing a bunch of weight and coming to play and not being able to maintain that. Bron got the blueprint. I’m doing my best to follow it.”"

Now let’s hope that next season Williamson follows the blueprint he’s laid out and has the healthiest season of his career thus far.