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When he’s at his best, New Orleans Pelicans superstar Zion Williamson is one of the best players in the entire.
Therein lies the catch, however. Williamson is often well below his best.
Whether it’s injuries or lack of fitness, Williamson has failed to live up to the billing on several occasions thus far in his career. And it now appears that he’ll concede millions and millions of dollars because of it.
Williamson signed a five-year, $197 million contract extension with the Pelicans in July of 2022. But because he played only 29 games last season due to injury, the final three years of that contract are no longer guaranteed according to Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic.
Vorkunov states that by missing more than 22 games last season, Williamson triggered a clause that turned the salary he is owed for those seasons from guaranteed to non-guaranteed.
It’s a heads-up play from the Pelicans to protect against an oft-unavailable Williamson.
But there’s even more.
Williamson can earn back the guarantees by playing in enough games and hitting specific weigh-in checkpoints this season. But he can also lose more money if he does not meet the necessary benchmarks.
“Under the contract, the sum of Williamson’s weight in pounds and his body fat percentage must be less than 295,” the report states. “He was listed as weighing 285 pounds last season, meaning his body fat could not be higher than 10 percent.”
A 2022 report from the National Institute of Health found that the average basketball player had a body fat percentage of 13.1%.
Both Charles Barkley and Stephen A. Smith called out Williamson recently over his weight.
“He needs to get in shape. Plain and simple,” Barkley said. “This is professional basketball, we’re not babysitters. To make the kind of money these guys are making today, I don’t think it’s a lot to tell guys to get in shape.”
Smith took an even harsher approach.
“Zion Williamson, he looks fat,” the ESPN star said. “He looks fat…Zion Williamson went to the free throw line the other day, ladies and gentlemen. I saw a belly. When he took a deep breath, his belly bounced. That kind of belly.
“You looked like you showed up to the game having just ate a buffet. Not something from the buffet, I said, ‘the buffet.’ Like you ate the damn table…”
Brutal.