Pelicans have a Zion Williamson problem that a trade won't solve

The New Orleans Pelicans are stuck between a rock and a hard place.

They traded away their 2026 first-round pick, and Zion Williamson is hurt again.

Where are they supposed to go from here?

ESPN's Brian Windhorst and Tim Bontemps discussed the dilemmas here in a new article on Friday, and it basically doesn't sound like a great situation.

"Williamson remains a talent," Bontemps writes. "However, he's also a ball-dominant player who doesn't shoot from the perimeter and is a below average defender at best. That's not exactly a desirable trade asset, even factoring in all the injuries that have limited Williamson to playing just 219 out of a possible 480 games in his career. Williamson has played in only 45.6% of all of New Orleans' games since the start of the 2019 season and has never played in a playoff game."

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The Pelicans have a 25-year old Zion who did slim down a lot in the offseason.

They also have made moves to try and build around Williamson, and it feels like theirs is a roster with talent, if not one that has proven yet that it can win.

But if they're going to rebuild, trading Williamson seems like the option on the table. Except it might not be a good enough one.

"The intel that exists on Williamson within the league, fairly or not, is not great," Windhorst writes. "There have been numerous coaches, support staff and teammates that have cycled through New Orleans over the past seven years, which includes all the injuries and a one-game suspension in January for being late to a team flight. Stated simply, even with his unusual non-guaranteed contract over the next two years that offers the franchise protection, Williamson's trade value isn't super high."

Windhorst quotes an executive who suggests that the Pelicans should actually make a win-now trade, because he doesn't believe they'd get enough out of giving up on Zion.

The Pelicans are just 2-6, and they're in the gauntlet Western Conference. This doesn't really seem like a situation that will get better anytime soon.

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