Pelicans send out season ticket renewal with NO mention of Zion

[SleepingHero]

https://twitter.com/fletcherwdsu/status/...63232?s=21


So you have probably the most marketable young star in the entire league and don't mention him at all when you're trying to get season ticket renewals? Something isn't adding up here and doesn't seem like an oversight from the marketing department. That's like the Mavs sending out a season ticket renewal package but only show you Dwight Powell and THJ without mentioning Luka once. 

Couple that with this other rumor floated by Howard Beck just a couple of days ago where he mentioned:

The teams that have a star are feverishly doing everything to keep them happy. The rest are plotting to poach them. Around the league, team executives are already bracing (and/or plotting) for the next disenchanted star to ask out, with speculation focused on Zion Williamson in New Orleans, Damian Lillard in Portland and Donovan Mitchell in Utah. 

https://www.si.com/nba/2022/02/20/nba-superstar-empowerment-disruption-trades

I suppose this raises a ton of questions.
1. Why would NOP try to cut bait so early on Zion and is Zion damaged goods ala Greg Oden?
2. What would be a reasonable package for Zion from around the league considering his injury history?
3. Ignoring other competitive packages, what's the most you'd give for the Mavs to get Zion, if you even want him?
4. What team do you think would actually trade for Zion? I know we all think the Knicks, but if you're Sam Presti with your 50 draft picks, this seems like a prime opportunity to cash some in.

[DanSchwartzgan]

 
2. What would be a reasonable package for Zion from around the league considering his injury history?
 

Isn't this basically the KP deal (the original one).  DSJ, expiring contracts and a couple of picks?

If he hits, the receiving team wins the jackpot.  But, there is a good chance the guy is never right and you are faced with needing to pay him, possibly before you ever see him on the court.

Seen that movie before.  The kids in the haunted mansion all die.  Not interested in Zion to the Mav's.

[SleepingHero]

That's an interesting perspective. I can see the similarities in the Zion and KP situations, but I'd argue that Zion has showed more as a superstar than KP has ever have in his career.


The issue is Zion probably has an even worse injury history. So I suppose this is a more volatile KP deal? When it booms you are basically pairing the 2nd coming of Shaq/Barkley with whatever star you have. If it busts you have the 2nd coming of Greg Oden.

From the Mavs perspective you get your small ball 5 that is not only switchable but the best finisher in the game inch for inch. 

I'd also stay away from the deal, but not because of Zion's injury history. I just think Luka wants to be option 1 for a little while. He never really had the chance as Donnie traded for KP his rookie year.

But say the Knicks or OKC? Can you imagine a PnR will SGA and Zion?

[dirkfansince1998]

Isn't this basically the KP deal (the original one).  DSJ, expiring contracts and a couple of picks?

If he hits, the receiving team wins the jackpot.  But, there is a good chance the guy is never right and you are faced with needing to pay him, possibly before you ever see him on the court.

Seen that movie before.  The kids in the haunted mansion all die.  Not interested in Zion to the Mav's.

Similar. Not quite the same. Even more injury concerns. Even more upside. In the few games that he played Zion has been better than any version of NY KP. I don´t think people realize how historically great Zion´s season was. 27/7/4 on 65% TS. One of the best volume/efficiency seasons of all time as a 20 year old in his second year.

[Kammrath]

Even more injury concerns. Even more upside.

Yeah.... 

One of the highest upsides we have seen in the last 10 years...and yet INFINITE injury risk IMO.

I personally think the odds of KP staying healthy is an order of magnitude higher than Zion.

[SkenfromLMF]

Isn't this basically the KP deal (the original one).  DSJ, expiring contracts and a couple of picks?

If he hits, the receiving team wins the jackpot.  But, there is a good chance the guy is never right and you are faced with needing to pay him, possibly before you ever see him on the court.

Seen that movie before.  The kids in the haunted mansion all die.  Not interested in Zion to the Mav's.

Yeah, but you paid to see all the sequels -

I would agree today, BUT if we get the picks paid off for the KP deal - I might price check to see what it would take. You know once you have the car paid off the first thing people do is start shopping on a new one.

[khaled1987]

I doubt they are trading him tbh, at least even if they want to do they won't make it known this way.
Seems like something foolish happened, someone has a dig against Zion and that someone will be fired soon.
tbh, would Griffin survive till offseason to trade him?

[Tyler]

If there's one thing I learned from the KP experience, it's that I want players on my team who can be counted on to show up and compete. As much as I like the idea of a healthy Zion, I'm not convinced he'll ever be that guy.

That's a highly questionable decision by the Pelicans PR staff, though. Why draw attention to it?

[MrGoat]

We don't want to get in on this. Just the other day CJ McCollum said he hasn't even been able to talk to Zion yet. There's a growing sense and many think Zion is sitting on all his shoe money, pulling a shadow Ben Simmons and he wants to land in NY. The Pelicans are going to need to trade him but if you're not the Knicks or maybe the Nets he's really not worth giving much up for because he might not want to even play for you, OKC would be making a huge mistake if this is where they cashed in their chips. Massive red flags, gambling on KP was a safer bet than this would be. No interest for the Mavs

JJ Redick weighed in earlier today

https://twitter.com/FirstTake/status/149...3916727296

[michaeltex]

Comparing KP to Zion is not exactly apples vs apples. 

Whatever you can like or dislike about KP's game, you have to admit that he always put in the work for rehab. You didn't see/hear about big weight gains or not showing for PT. Our problem was that he seemed to be always rehabbing. In fact, reports were that DAL held him out longer to get him more strength training to try and address some of the lower body concerns. 

We are farther away from the situation with Zion, but from our vantage point it doesn't look promising for his return any time soon. The fact that he is "rehabbing away from the team" has to mean something, right. Maybe something toxic about having Zion around and not holding up his end of the deal?

I was a little envious that NOP lucked in to such a talent, but thought their small-market team deserved something positive after the AD departure. Now he's starting to look more like an albatross than a pelican.

[Tyler]

Now he's starting to look more like an albatross than a pelican.

[MrGoat]

Comparing KP to Zion is not exactly apples vs apples. 

Whatever you can like or dislike about KP's game, you have to admit that he always put in the work for rehab. You didn't see/hear about big weight gains or not showing for PT. Our problem was that he seemed to be always rehabbing. In fact, reports were that DAL held him out longer to get him more strength training to try and address some of the lower body concerns. 

We are farther away from the situation with Zion, but from our vantage point it doesn't look promising for his return any time soon. The fact that he is "rehabbing away from the team" has to mean something, right. Maybe something toxic about having Zion around and not holding up his end of the deal?

I was a little envious that NOP lucked in to such a talent, but thought their small-market team deserved something positive after the AD departure. Now he's starting to look more like an albatross than a pelican.

Though if you do make the comparison you can see why I'd be so out on him. When you consider that we took on extra salary and gave up a second round pick just to dump KP, and the main issue with KP was his durability. And then realize that KP played in 134 games for us from 2019 to now and Zion has only played in 85 games for the Pelicans in that same span. And then factor in that KP was at least professional enough to stay in shape and play in games when he could I would be shocked if the Mavs were willing to entertain a Zion trade with a ten foot pole even if our measly non Luka assets would be enough to bring him in.

[Jason Terry]

1. All the signs point to Zion being just like every other star new orleans has had. The FO probably has a good idea if he will want to leave. It’s a star driven league. They always move if they want to 

2. More than 2 FRP’s to get them to pick up the phone. 

3. Not interested just because there’s better options that don’t have the cost or risk of zion. We can’t miss going forward. 

4. OKC comes to mind. NOP should get ahead of this. If they wait until he demands a trade, he might have already made up his mind where he wants to go and they might not get the same return as if they auction him off this summer. I could see OKC unloading several FRP’s and it making sense to both organizations. 


My interest for the mavs is with CJ McCollum, Brandon Ingram, and Larry Nance Jr

I would give up all our assets for Ingram, but it wouldn’t be enough IMO. We are limited 

McCollum is probably among the best targets we could hope for this summer. 

Mavs: McCollum and Nance Jr

Pels: THJ, Dinwiddie, Brown, Green, 22 FRP, two SRP’s 

A better version of what they gave up to Portland. Almost an exact salary match

[DrMav]

I don’t think the players union will let it happen, but NBA needs something akin to that NFL franchise tag. Maybe keep the salary cap and the concept of Bird Rights, but remove maximum salary limits and let teams pay what it takes to keep superstars.

None of this necessarily applies to Zion, because I really have no idea how much of a problem is health and how much is that he doesn’t want to be in New Orleans. I do know it Luka was thinking about heading to the Knicks, I would want Cuban to have the ability to pay him $50 million to NYKs $35 million a year to see if that made a difference.

[Kammrath]

NBA needs something akin to that NFL franchise tag

YES. Been saying this for years. It would help parity immensely IMO.

[cow]

There was already smoke last year that Zion wanted out of New Orleans.  Remember, he was only drafted two years prior.  That should set off alarm bells.  I'd question why he'd want to be in our market if that's the case.  The good news for the Mavericks is that even if they wanted to leverage their future (again), they probably can't afford him.

The KP parallels are interesting.  While Zion is a much more talented player, KP is way more of a gym rat.  While the Zion is fat rhetoric may be blown out of proportion a la Luka,  I think the weight that Zion is comfortable at isn't sustainable giving his athleticism.

[SleepingHero]

I don’t think the players union will let it happen, but NBA needs something akin to that NFL franchise tag. Maybe keep the salary cap and the concept of Bird Rights, but remove maximum salary limits and let teams pay what it takes to keep superstars.

None of this necessarily applies to Zion, because I really have no idea how much of a problem is health and how much is that he doesn’t want to be in New Orleans. I do know it Luka was thinking about heading to the Knicks, I would want Cuban to have the ability to pay him $50 million to NYKs $35 million a year to see if that made a difference.

I think the simplest solution without rocking the boat is make the super max more accessible, and have it just count as a regular full max to the team's overall cap. 

That way teams aren't penalized for retaining their star players (and lowers the obstacles building around said stars), and it gives the players a hefty incentive with zero downsides to staying with your original team.

[Kammrath]

While the Zion is fat rhetoric may be blown out of proportion a la Luka

Only if our comparison is to the most obese people in the world...

[ItsGoTime]

Zion's playing weight of 284 according to BBRef already put him in the obese category. He had a lot of fat to burn off, but the muscle he has, and that makes him such a monster, is what puts him up there IMO. He'd have to get down to 255 just to be considered overweight. He'd have to muscle down to get there and I don't think that is really an option for him, his muscle is what makes him who he is. Oh, and the quick search to figure out Zion's current weight shows Tim McMahon getting a report in December at 330 lbs.

Luka was reported to come to camp at 260 which puts him just under obese according to the basic BMI calculator I quickly found with a weight chart that doesn't go as tall as these guys are. His playing weight according to BBRef is 230 which puts him just a bit over the overweight mark. At 221 lbs, he would be considered normal. Again, same as Zion, this isn't an athlete scale who should carry more muscle than the "normal" human.

[ItsGoTime]

For comparison, when Shaq entered the league at 301 lbs he was just under the obese mark.