Entering his fifth year in the NBA, Pelicans star forward Zion Williamson has been the subject of trade rumors following a season in which he appeared in only 29 games. But according to a key New Orleans executive, that hasn’t changed the relationship Williamson has with the front office.
Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations David Griffin spoke to SiriusXM Radio on Wednesday at NBA Summer League, detailing why he believes the bond between the team and Williamson is “as good as it’s ever been.”
“I think what’s unfortunate is he is a name that generates clicks no matter what the link says. ‘Zion puts on his socks’—people click on that,” Griffin said of the coverage Williamson has gotten this offseason. “And so it makes it really easy for people to manufacture rumor around him because they don’t have to have any kind of actual credibility behind what they say to generate clicks.”
As for whether or not the team explored a potential trade for Williamson this offseason, Griffin denied ever considering that possibility.
“We never had a single [trade] conversation that Zion was a part of. I think people perceived that we would be willing to move off of Zion because of all the injuries, because there’s always so much noise around Zion,” Griffin said. “Fortunately for us, the noise never actually matches what we’re really experiencing.”
Williamson missed all of the 2021–22 season with a foot injury, and missed 53 games last season. When he did play, his production was still strong, as he averaged 26.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game on 60.8% shooting from the field.
When asked whether or not he even received calls from other teams looking to acquire Williamson, Griffin said he did not.
“I think one of the reasons for that is people understand who he is to our franchise and what he allows us to do,” Griffin said. “So people don’t tend to call you and chase things that they know you’re not gonna do.”
