Zion Williamson: “My Intentions Are To Stay With The Pelicans My Whole Career”

Zion Williamson hasn’t yet made his NBA debut in New Orleans but he has already expressed his interested to remain with the franchise long-term.

“Growing up, I loved what Kobe [Bryant] did and Dirk [Nowitzki] did… My intentions are to stay with the Pelicans my whole career,” Williamson told Macklin Stern of Complex. “But if something happens, I wouldn’t leave because I hate the place. It’s just the business.”

The Pelicans are beginning a new era after trading away superstar Anthony Davis this offseason. Davis demanded a trade last February with over a year left on his deal and the team held onto him until this summer when the new front office – led by David Griffin – traded him to the Lakers.

Williamson is the star of the future in New Orleans. Like many top players, he may take recruiting free agents into his own hands one day. RJ Barrett, who played with Williamson at Duke and was drafted by the Knicks at the No. 3 overall pick, could be a player Williamson targets.

“Yeah, [Barrett and I] talked about it in college a lot. We kinda talked about it as we were both going to get our careers started and see how it goes. I mean, if we can possibly link up in the future, that would be great. But we both understand that if things are going well in our prospective cities, we’ll just kind of leave it there,” Williamson said.

The Pelicans brought on two other 2019 first-round picks (Jaxson Hayes and Nickeil Alexander-Walker) during an offseason of change that also includes the acquisitions of a trio of former top-three overall picks (Derrick Favors, No. 3, 2010; Brandon Ingram, No. 2, 2016; Lonzo Ball, No. 2, 2017). Williamson believes the Pelicans currently have the talent to reach great heights.

“Me being confident in my teammates, I would say I think the ceiling is [a] championship,” the latest No. 1 overall pick said. “But I have to be realistic about this. I have high expectations for us, but you gotta see how we’re gonna work. I think we are going to work, but it does take time to adjust to each player—knowing what they like to do, finding out their tendencies. So I think the quicker we find out those things, I think we have a very high ceiling.”

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