{"id":125333,"date":"2025-02-24T06:57:24","date_gmt":"2025-02-24T11:57:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=125333"},"modified":"2025-02-24T07:01:25","modified_gmt":"2025-02-24T12:01:25","slug":"zion-williamson-achievement-shows-his-insane-value-to-pelicans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/02\/24\/zion-williamson-achievement-shows-his-insane-value-to-pelicans\/","title":{"rendered":"Zion\u2019s Shocking Achievement Shows His Insane Value To Pelicans"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since entering the league, the story of Zion Williamson<\/a> has been full of highs and lows<\/a>. On the court, he is undoubtedly one of the most dominant forces in the league. Unfortunately, injuries have kept him out of the New Orleans Pelicans\u2019 lineup all too often. Recently, the Pelicans\u2019 big man reached a somewhat <\/span>shocking career achievement<\/span><\/a>. It took him the third-least amount of games amongst active players to reach 5,000 career points. Only LeBron James<\/a> and Luka Doncic<\/a> have met that mark in less outings. We are going to take a look at this achievement and Zion Williamson\u2019s stats to show why the Pelicans need to avoid a Williamson trade at all costs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Zion\u2019s Shocking Achievement Shows His Insane Value To Pelicans<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Zion Williamson\u2019s Stats and Franchise Record<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Not only does Williamson find himself in elite company with his new career achievement, but he also has set a Pelicans\u2019 franchise record. He became the fastest player to 5,000 points in Pelicans\u2019 history. Beating out Anthony Davis<\/a> for that honor is certainly significant, as Davis is arguably the best Pelicans player of all-time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Williamson\u2019s stats as a Pelican have been equally, if not more impressive than Davis\u2019. In just over 200 career games (equivalent to about two and a half seasons), Williamson has averaged 24.7 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 4.2 assists all while shooting 58.8% from the field. Though the issue with Williamson has never been his production, it has been his health.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Williamson\u2019s Injury Issues<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Being the third-quickest active player to reach 5,000 points is a remarkable feat. Williamson is in just his fifth NBA season (not including the 2021-21 season where he was out with injury), but it seems like he has been a staple of the NBA for a while now. It hasn\u2019t always been in the most positive light, however.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Williamson\u2019s injury history and perceived waste of incredible athletic potential have been the subject of many conversations around the former Duke star. Williamson has yet to play an NBA playoff game and has just one year where he played more than 61 games. There have been constant conversations about his weight as a cause of durability issues. The Pelicans even reportedly were open to trading him<\/a> at the 2025 NBA trade deadline.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Pelicans Shouldn\u2019t Trade Williamson<\/strong><\/h3>\n

It is understandable why the Pelicans might want to part ways with Williamson. He is constantly injured and hasn\u2019t shown his commitment to the franchise by staying in shape. That being said, Zion Williamson’s stats and his recent career achievements show why the Pelicans need to try and keep him.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Being on a list with James and Doncic means you are one of the best. When he plays, it certainly seems like he belongs on that list. Having one of those players on your team means you always have a chance at competing. For example, if Williamson hadn’t gotten injured before last year’s playoffs, the Pelicans could have made some real noise. Having a chance is what it is all about. Just ask the 2019 Toronto Raptors.<\/span><\/p>\n

With Williamson on their roster, the Pelicans have an outside chance of contending for a title. It may take the perfect confluence of good health and luck, but it is certainly possible. That is why the Pelicans should do everything in their power to keep Williamson. Players like this don\u2019t come around often.<\/span><\/p>\n

Photo fredit\u00a9 Jerome Miron-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since entering the league, the story of Zion Williamson has been full of highs and lows. On the court, he is undoubtedly one of the most dominant forces in the league. Unfortunately, injuries have kept him out of the New Orleans Pelicans\u2019 lineup all too often. Recently, the Pelicans\u2019 big man reached a somewhat shocking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5284,"featured_media":125362,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,33],"tags":[240,38,1133,1684],"class_list":["post-125333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-pelicans","tag-anthony-davis","tag-lebron-james","tag-luka-doncic","tag-zion-williamson"],"modified_by":"Kenny Kluska","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5284"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125333"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125333\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":125363,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125333\/revisions\/125363"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}