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Zion Williamson unexpectedly leaped into the front pages for the right and controversial reasons. The New Orleans Pelicans star announced that he will become a father soon as he and his girlfriend Ahkeema are expecting a baby girl.
It didn’t take long for the news to get complicated as porn star Moriah Mills posted revealing messages on Twitter. Mills unloaded a string of mind-boggling posts that have left the basketball and entertainment world stunned.
ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith joined the fray and let out a lengthy rant on his show:
“Man, you only played 29 games last year and you missed the season before that! What the hell is taking you so long to get healthy? Well, now I know. You’re young, you’re not married. You can do what you wanna do.
“But there’s a bigger issue here. I mean, she’s a porn star. One would surmise she’s kind of an expert at whatever it is she does. You know, I’ve been waiting for the leg injury to cure, to heal, Zion. Team been waiting for a while. I mean, damn, bro!
The veteran sports talk show host continued to vent:
"No wonder you ain't healthy. I'm talking about your legs. We need those legs, spry. We need you bench pressing with your big self. We need you bench pressing about 400 pounds.
"We need you running up and down that court. He's a man-child, but you can't get healthy. Your lower extremities were compromised."
Zion Williamson sat out the 2021-22 season due to a fractured right foot. He suffered the injury in the preseason. Most were expecting that he’d be back at some point. “Zanos” never did, which only made the 2022-23 season even more heavily anticipated by basketball fans.
The former Duke superstar played 29 games this season and even made it to the All-Star team for the second time in his career. Things started to go downhill on Jan. 2 when he injured his hamstring against the Philadelphia 76ers. Before the injury, Williamson showed that he was better than he had ever been. Then 76ers coach Doc Rivers described defending him as like “guarding a fast Shaq.”
The New Orleans Pelicans announced early in March that he was progressing as expected. By the end of the month, he had relapsed and was expected to be questionable for the play-in tournament.
After such a promising start, Zion Williamson had another wasted season due to another injury.
The New Orleans Pelicans need Zion Williamson to stay healthy to be a playoff contender
At one point, the New Orleans Pelicans held the best record in the Western Conference. Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram, Jonas Valanciunas, CJ McCollum, Larry Nance Jr., Trey Murphy III and Herb Jones were giving teams fits.
Unfortunately, they couldn’t sustain it as Ingram was also sidelined for a long stretch due to a toe injury while Williamson’s hamstring was uncooperative.
When healthy, they’re an interesting team who has the potential to make a deep playoff run. They have length, size and can play defense.
Zion Williamson’s massive five-year deal will kick in next season. Much more will be even more expected of him. The Pelicans need him on the floor to challenge the best teams in the NBA.
