JJ Redikk calls out Zion as a “detached teammate”

[Easy-E]

If the NBA want to keep superstars in these mid/small markets they gon need to accelerate the rate of development for these overseas players since they’ll care a lot less about where they land than an American born player.

Probably, but, small market teams gotta stop being hos.

The Pelicans should've told him; ENOUGH. You train and recover in New Orleans. If you don't like it, take a fine and leave after your contract is up.

This baby shyt rarely works when the star doesn't want to be there.

At this point; it was fun. But, this is ridiculous. This ho ass franchise too scared to declare him out for the season and we got 21 or so games to go.

Griff needs to be fired, yesterday, too. He ain't covered is ass with a decent summer and a good deadline.

 

[pete clemenza]

Time for the Pels to see what they can get for him

 

[Hoodoo Child]

He was supposed to be the "Next Big Thing"..now he's just Big

 

[WMG the 2nd]

They need to give JJ his own show. He’s already providing better insight than most of these clowns who get up there who just say hot takes for a living.

Zion going out like a bytch. It’s one thing to want a trade years after trying to win a championship. But he hasn’t even played a full season. Dude is still under a rookie contract. And yet people were giving AD shyt for requesting a trade even though he played 7-8 seasons and took them to the playoffs.

He has a podcast that’s pretty good

 

[Easy-E]

He is a good kid but the people around him are failing him. Man can’t even pretend to like the place till his contract is up. He also allegedly does not let the pelicans training staff work with him.

I'm done with that excuse.

He's gonna be 22 this year. We aren't peer pressuring him to fukk dirty thots.

He's not on house arrest.

I don't care what he and his team does, just stop making it seem like he has no choice because of his age.

I wonder what the takes were when they Mannings forced Eli away from that trash chargers organization, or how Elway did Baltimore. If dude balls out for the next ten years somewhere else this will all be water under the bridge.

Zion should've done the same. I was too blinded as a fan. But, we should've traded the pick.

I was hot when the media said it, but, all points show his team loves the fact that he's been injured and create this narrative of "not trusting."

The only reason they want him to play his to keep his value up for other teams.

 

[42 Monks]

That'd low key be a win for NO. You think Zion tubby ass would be alright with the Kwame treatment?

ppl still think Miles is him

 

[WMG the 2nd]

Zion Williamson loves playing in New York, but don’t count on him becoming a Knick any time soon

By Joe Vardon Apr 19, 2021

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Zion Williamson loves playing in New York.

“Honestly, outside of New Orleans, obviously, I think this might be my favorite place to play outside of New Orleans,” Williamson said Sunday, after his first NBA game at Madison Square Garden.

It wasn’t just his words. It was the multi-million-dollar smile, the fawning and the gushing tone (almost like a blush) he took in answering the question. He said: “I’m glad you asked that, actually. New York is the mecca of basketball. I love playing here. I’ve played here in college. This is my first time playing here in the pros. This atmosphere, whether they are cheering for you or booing for you, it’s amazing.”

The “outside of New Orleans, obviously” part reads better than it sounded if you’re a Pelicans fan. And if you love the Knicks and are still bent they didn’t get the No. 1 pick in 2019 for the right to draft Williamson, what you saw and heard from him Sunday was poetic. It lit a fire in your belly and dared you to dream: Zion, coming to the Big Stage near you.



It was like the Knicks won a game (122-112, in overtime over the Pels, if you care) and won the future in the span of an hour. Closed out New Orleans in the extra session, as Julius Randle bullied his way to 33 points, and then New York got those googly eyes from Williamson, who all but signed his name to that skyrise condo in TriBeCa he’ll be purchasing when he signs with the Knicks.

Right?

Allow me to take a crow hop (Yankee fans, this is the jump your outfielder takes before he airmails one over the cutoff man) and pour a Zion-sized bucket of water on all of this.

Realistically, there is no scenario in which Williamson could force his way out of New Orleans for years. As in, many. We’ll try to find the best guesses below, and this is to say nothing of whether he even wants to leave.

Williamson is in the middle of his rookie contract; the Pels already picked up his $10.7 million option for next season. After that, the club has a $13.5 million option it can (and will) exercise on his rookie deal for 2021-22, which would also set him up to be a restricted free agent in the summer of 2023. The 2023 trade deadline, then, would be his first cracked window of a chance to make a move. He could, in theory, demand a trade and threaten to take the Pelicans’ qualifying offer (one-year, $17.6 million), then leave as an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2024. That very same poker move made the Knicks buckle and trade Kristaps Porzingis to the Mavericks.

So there’s Williamson’s first chance, but it is unlikely. If the Pels were to call his bluff and keep him through his restricted free agency, he would miss out on a chance to sign his five-year maximum extension, which could be worth $207 million. The Pels can first offer him the extension in the summer of ’22, and it would kick in starting with the ’23-24 season, the first of theoretically five more years in which he’ll be tied to the Pelicans.

After he signs that extension, but before it expires, would be Williamson’s next chance. This has already happened to the Pelicans with Anthony Davis, who told New Orleans in 2019 he would not accept another supermax extension. He demanded a trade, to the Lakers, and in the summer of 2019, he got it.

So in this scenario, Williamson could push his way to the destination of his choice in … 2027? Perhaps the New York real estate market can take a beat before preparing his room.

There is, of course, a third option for Williamson, which, in theory, could see him force a change much earlier, before his rookie deal expires, or much, much earlier into his rookie extension. He could, like James Harden with the Rockets or Kyrie Irving with the Cavs, demand a trade and make things so toxic, so uncomfortable, so ugly inside the organization that the Pelicans ultimately give in and try to get the most they can in a trade. (Never mind the uncomfortable truth that, at present, the Knicks wouldn’t be able to offer the Pels anything close to what it would take to get Williamson.)

Williamson may be a ferocious, menacing force of nature on the court (his 34 points and nine rebounds were pretty good Sunday), but he is a polite, quiet, unassuming young man off it. Would he have the stomach for a hostile, trade me or I will ruin your daily life standoff with the Pels front office? It’s doubtful, and there is no getting around the fact New Orleans, no matter what, can keep him for three more seasons, and he’d have no other recourse but to sit out.

All of this sounds … silly.

This is the age of player empowerment, to be sure, and there are even some close to Williamson who have noticed how easy it’s been for Harden to get to Brooklyn, for Jimmy Butler to push his way out of Minnesota, for Kawhi Leonard … and on and on. But there has been no indication that Williamson, the 20-year-old, burgeoning phenom, has personally expressed interest in leaving New Orleans any time soon.

Oh, one more thing. LeBron James has on many occasions said Madison Square Garden was his favorite arena. He has never, ever seriously considered signing with the Knicks.

But yes, Zion loves New York. Said so himself.

Athletic NBA Insider John Hollinger contributed to this story.

(Photo: Nathaniel S. Butler / NBAE via Getty Images)

He doing the same thing Kawhi did. This was also written before they went and got Cam Reddish. Cam, Zion, and RJ played together at Duke under coach K. Leon Rose the President of basketball operations and has deep Kentucky and Duke connections as a former agent. Thibs will be gone and fired and they likely get someone else. Similar to Philly, if Doc loses with Embiid and Harden watch Mike D’Antoni suddenly want to start coaching again.

 

[calh45]

ppl still think Miles is him

It ain't about Miles in this case. It's about Zion. He's another plate of gumbo from being 300 lbs. As long as Miles is willing to grab rebounds and run a little bit it's a win for NO.

What have you seen in Zion's work ethic that makes you believe he's going to work himself back into the player we saw last year in flashes?

 

[NSSVO]

I mean, Breh said he wanted to be in NYC. It is what it is. They didn’t have to waste the pick.

You would think he would still be professional.

 

[42 Monks]

It ain't about Miles in this case. It's about Zion. He's another plate of gumbo from being 300 lbs. As long as Miles is willing to grab rebounds and run a little bit it's a win for NO.

What have you seen in Zion's work ethic that makes you believe he's going to work himself back into the player we saw last year in flashes?

he never gave a shyt about playing in NOLA act like people don't move and act brand new tho

that's why we also need a 1st

 

[Montez]

You would think he would still be professional.

He's been a star from 14/15. He don't give a fukk.

 

[WMG the 2nd]

He's been a star from 14/15. He don't give a fukk.

When you look at it that way he’s pretty much been a star and known name for the last 7 years. That’s about when some of these bigger name dudes actually make that trade or jump to a different msrket

 

[NSSVO]

He's been a star from 14/15. He don't give a fukk.

He makes Pogba look like Ronaldo. Getting that 100 mil fukked his head up too.

 

[2Quik4UHoes]

Probably, but, small market teams gotta stop being hos.

The Pelicans should've told him; ENOUGH. You train and recover in New Orleans. If you don't like it, take a fine and leave after your contract is up.

This baby shyt rarely works when the star doesn't want to be there.

At this point; it was fun. But, this is ridiculous. This ho ass franchise too scared to declare him out for the season and we got 21 or so games to go.

Griff needs to be fired, yesterday, too. He ain't covered is ass with a decent summer and a good deadline.

I agree with that too, proper management is also a big part of this since many of these franchise mismanage things. But it can’t help that we’re in such a brand thirsty clout demon era which drives young players to the bigger markets.

 

[BigMoneyGrip]

No reason for JJ to lie or embellish something like this especially since he played with Zion