New Orleans Pelicans star Zion Williamson has reportedly lost 25 pounds since the team’s In-Season Tournament semifinal 44-point loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Since the Pelicans’ season-ending low point, there has allegedly been less criticism of the former first overall pick’s attitude from within the team.
Williamson’s career trajectory has changed, and he has also had a remarkable run of success on the court. The former top player for Duke has finished each of his last five games with at least 23 points.
ESPN’s “Hoop Collective” podcast detailed Williamson’s remarkable transformation, drawing a comparison between the 6-foot-6 forward’s lethargic performance in December and his present state of peak fitness.
Following the Lakers defeat, Williamson’s physique received harsh criticism, particularly from Stephen A. Smith.
‘His performance has been excellent. He’s playing fewer minutes, and that helps as well. But I’ve got people telling me he’s lost 25 pounds. And I don’t mean in the past where people say he’s added muscle and you’re like, “Has he?”‘ ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said.
‘If you go back and look at him in the In-Season Tournament, and you look at him now, he looks completely different. Frankly, they were embarrassed in Las Vegas,’ Windhorst continued.
‘It was really the first on-that-stage moment for him. He’d had other games, like Christmas Day, opening nights, where he hasn’t been available. “This was his game and this was supposed to be it … and it went completely the wrong way,’ Windhorst added.
‘Since that moment — there was a team meeting around that time as well — things have gone on the up-and-up for him, and looks like a completely different player,’ Windhorst concluded.
ESPN’s Andrew Lopez also stated Williamson’s ‘buy-in’ is the best it has been since he joined the franchise in 2019.
That’s a far cry from Smith’s loathing critiques of Williamson, which started a social-media feud between the broadcaster and the Pelicans.
‘Zion Williamson, he looks fat,’ Smith said in December. ‘I saw a belly. When he took a deep breath, his belly bounced, that kind of belly. You look like you showed up to the game having just ate a buffet, not something from the buffet, the buffet. Like you ate the damn table.’
‘I know they got a weight clause in his contract, they got to,’ Smith continued. ‘He got to be violating that, so he’s addicted to food. I’m speculating, but its got to be. But Zion Williamson in basketball parlance is fat.’
In response to additional criticism, the Pelicans released a Smith “highlight reel.”
Social media footage featured Smith one-hopping the ball to home plate, throwing out the first pitch at a Yankees game, and making an air ball 3-pointer that missed the hoop by a significant amount.
With Williamson’s recent improvement in form, Smith hasn’t been overtly negative.
Currently sitting 2.5 games above the drop into the Play-In Tournament, the Pelicans are in fifth place in the Western Conference.
