New Orleans Pelicans superstar Zion Williamson has been the subject of many NBA discussions throughout his young career. His incredible combination of size and athleticism despite weight concerns has been a theme along with incredible talent and, unfortunately, injury.
Williamson missed all of the 2022-23 season due to a foot injury that tends to be problematic for larger human beings. The handling of the injury from the Pelicans was suspicious, and Williamson went from declaring he’d be ready to play Game 1 of 82 to not appearing in any of their 82 regular season games.
It seems that losing weight naturally was a priority for Williamson to avoid any potential additional major injury after making a full recovery from the fracture in his foot. He is now ready for the 2022-23 season and underwent a body transformation that went viral in the process.
Shaquille O’Neal recently discussed Williamson’s physical transformation in “The Big Podcast with Shaq” and said that Zion isn’t guaranteed to be great after losing weight and offered some advice.
O’Neal explained that carrying more weight allowed him to be more durable when it came to handling contact. Given the incredible force he played with, opponents had to answer the challenge of guarding him with significant contact. He kept the weight on his frame despite looking out of shape.
“When I start losing weight getting thin, I would get injured more from contact, but when I was big and looked out of shape, I was in charge,” O’Neal said.
“But listen, he looks good, I wish him well, but I liked him when he was big Zion,” he expressed.
LATEST NBA NEWS: Zion Williamson & New Orleans Pelicans Updates
O’Neal’s explanation highlighted the same approach defenses used against him is how opponents tend to handle trying to contain Williamson. How there is the handling of body contact will be something to monitor for the Pelicans superstar.
“He’s a big guy, did you see how he was jumping and how he was playing? So, now he looks good but he’s Zion. So, they’re gonna bring that pain, they gonna be bringing that force when they play against him, it’s gonna be hard fouls. I just hope his new little body can withstand that.”
LATEST NBA NEWS: Zion Williamson & New Orleans Pelicans Updates
The difference in the NBA era is a major detail to take into consideration when comparing Shaquille O’Neal carrying extra weight as an advantage compared to Zion Williamson doing the same. Williamson often posts up mismatches that will still be great advantages, especially with switching being so prevalent. The floor spacing also doesn’t make him see a crowd as often.
