NBA fans were crushed when Zion Williamson exited his Summer League debut after just nine minutes with a bone bruise, which will keep the No. 1 overall pick out for the rest of the summer season. Williamson scored 11 points before suffering the injury, which the Pelicans say is not serious.
We’ll have to wait until October to see Williamson take the floor once again – but according to ESPN’s Seth Greenberg, Williamson’s short stint in the Summer League was a warning that he needs to do some serious work in the gym.
Williamson is a one-of-a-kind athlete – he stands 6-foot-7, weighs a listed 285 pounds and boasts a vertical of 40 inches. Although he was the runaway No. 1 pick in the draft, some experts have raised concerns over his body, which doesn’t fit the NBA mold of a typical forward. Charles Barkley has said Williamson will have a difficult time defending players he’s matched up against. Only Mavs big man Boban Marjanovic, one of the tallest players in the NBA at 7-foot-3, has a heavier listed weight than Zion.
On Thursday’s episode of Get Up, former college coach Seth Greenberg said he thought Williamson “couldn’t move” in his NBA debut, and said the 19-year-old is “significantly overweight.”
“My concern isn’t about his game, my concern is about his body. I mean, you can’t improve unless you’re in shape, and he is not in shape.
… Whatever his weight is, it’s significantly overweight.”
Strangely, Greenberg later said that Williamson’s weight isn’t necessarily an issue, and argued that he’s simply out of shape.
“Watching him in the Summer League, he played nine minutes. Look, he ripped the ball out of Kevin Knox’s hand and dunked the ball, that’s great.
He couldn’t move. He couldn’t move. And in the end, if he’s going to have a long career – and you made a great point earlier. When [Charles] Barkley was at his very best, he got in world-class shape. And it’s nothing to do with his weight, to me, it has to do with his conditioning. And right now, he’s in condition to get hurt, not to be a great player.”
