re: Bill Simmons says a reliable source told him Zion won't be on the Pelicans come Thursday

I could give a frick if both Zions knees exploded right after we won the title. I just want to win a title lol

Well sure lets take the gamble that hes 1977 Bill Walton. Great idea lol

You just asked for examples and I gave you one homie lol

How about give me one after you were born lol

Well, now you’re asking a different question. I just jumped in to give you an example of a chronically injured big man who won a title, was not trying to be combative

Context matters

We somewhat recently learned that Zion’s bubble issue was a hamstring

So that’s a minimum of 3 hamstring issues now. 1 in the Bubble and 2 this season considering he was about to return and then reaggravated it again.

And it adds credence and data to a broader issue of Zion consistently not rehabbing properly and missing injury/recovery timelines, not by days, not by weeks, but by months.

His inability to rehab effectively derailed the beginning of his rookie year. Then again in the bubble, when he injured his hamstring, left the bubble, and gained 15 pounds.

He missed an entire season last year when he was supposed to be ready by opening night and again by mid season.

And he missed at least 20-25 games more than anticipated with this recent hamstring issue.

If any of these situations were 1 off occurrences, it wouldn’t be an issue. But it’s happened 4-5 times with separate injuries. So more of his pattern of behavior at this point, more than his trade value being impacted by a simple hamstring issue.

If we don’t end up trading him and he has another meniscus level or foot fracture level injury that he takes forever to recover from, his trade value is probably close to zero at that point. The only reason why he has any trade value now is is due to his 29 game performance that had the Pels as a top 4 team in the league. The further removed we get from that, the less value he will have unless he puts another healthy stretch together.

I know and yes you gave me one example lol. I think its in jest but I would argue Bill Walton is not exactly the guy that comes to mind when you want to keep and pay Zion. But yes Bill Walton in the late 70s for one year of health is an example lol

quote:

---

A multi time MVP probably only won it this year because the rest of the league was down.

---

B
R
U
H

Belittle it all you like, it’s the exact example you asked for

quote:

---

I'd rather hold onto Zion and him flame out than trade him and run the risk of him blowing up and seeing his potential.

Maybe that's sunk cost but for a franchise like the Pels, you can't risk it.

---

100%

And Zion will not have much lower value for certain teams who covet him (the Knicks) unless some real outlier bad luck happens (like an achilles tear)