Zion Williamson Is The NBA's Saddest Story

Zion Williamson was once considered the greatest prospect of his generation. His combination of ridiculous athleticism and agility in the body of a 6'6" 300 pound player is unheard of. What exactly happened over the course of his NBA career?

I make all kinds of NBA videos which include analysis, player stories, countdowns, and mysteries. Make sure to leave a like and subscribe if you enjoyed this video!

► X (Twitter): @AndyHoopsYT
► TikTok: @AndyHoopsYT
► Music:
On The Cool Side by Kevin MacLeod
Floating Cities by Kevin MacLeod

► Sources:

#nba #zionwilliamson

[Dtown]

I think Zion fell into the trap of his own hype. He was treated like a celebrity in Duke to the point that the president showed up to watch him. He likes the perks of being an NBA player more than actually being a player.

[bcash]

Zion had the craziest hype. The Lebron comparisons, the Duke games, his shoes exploding, he was seriously a trending topic 5 years ago. But fast forward to now, he’s accomplished absolutely nothing in the NBA (maybe one all-star game if that??) and still gaining weight. He’s been told for YEARS to lose weight now. I see Zion as a “what if” story 5-10 years from now.. “what if I lost just 35 pounds when I was 20? I would’ve been unstoppable..” he needs to get his act together while he’s still young. Each season that passes, people care less and less about him. The league waits on no one.

[RolandoEsprit]

Seeing him walk up to the stage in the white suit vs. seeing him lumber up the floor this season is a crazy difference

[davidgilman]

I don't claim to be a b-ball visionary, but I fully thought this was how things would go for him. 300 pounds at such a young age -- it seemed to me inevitable he'd break down over an 80-game. season. And so he has.

[thuggwaffle]

Problem with Zion is with his playstyle these last 5 years should be his best. He’s so reliant on his athleticism and power and he’s wasting his prime years

[itheuserfirst]

What's weird is that this is not something beyond his ability. He has slimmed down before, and he wasn't like this during his colleg career. He simply cannot control his diet, and the concurrent inujuries seem to compound his discipline in that regard. He's gotta find away to get hungry for things that aren't on the table. As Marvin Hagler once said: “It's tough to get out of bed to do roadwork at 5 a.m. when you've been sleeping in silk pajamas.”

[willb]

Just think about this, this may actually be prime Zion. 😳

[BloomsArchitect]

He did what Shawn Kemp did during the lockout in 99. He just started earlier

[mattypaul]

There's still time for Zion to turn things around for himself. Of course, it's up to him and him alone. He can be dominant but clearly his 6'6" body can't handle that weight. Heck, even if he just lost a little weight and improved his rebounding, that alone would be a big improvement.

[johnmodarres]

I was a freshman at Duke when Zion was there and that man was a literal God. Like every time he walked anywhere people would film him or take pictures of/with him. Every guy wanted to be his friend and most girls would probably want him given the chance. It was surreal.

[thatguywesmaranan]

at this point, we can stop feeling sorry for him because he makes no effort to grow and improve...

[AnlStarDestroyer]

Damn imagine if he had played football. That length, strength, and agility could be lethal at OT

[jesusramirez]

“I’m sure some of you guys can relate” damn I didn’t expect to catch strays on this video 😂

[obuzbiayniedzwiedz]

I can name about 20 sadder nba stories than Zion's

[arizona_anime_fan]

Charles Barkley had an NBA legend sit him down in his rookie season and call him out for being Fat, He's always credited Moses Malone calling a spade a spade for his career success. While Chuck would always fight weight issues in the NBA, he never was as fat as he was in his rookie year, even to this day, decades after his career ended he's done a remarkable job keeping himself out of weight issues (for a dude who struggled with it as much as he did). Chuck got into better shape because of Malone calling him out, and it ignited a HOF career.

Finally like defense, rebounding is a lot about effort. The fact Zion is a shit rebounder has a lot to do with his lack of effort on the defensive half of the floor.

[TonyStone]

He's averaging 22 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 4 assists a game this year. And that while being an off-ball player

[robs]

Only person Zion can blame is himself he doesn't mentally have what it takes, it wasn't meant to be

[avantesmith]

Only thing I don’t like about Zion is that it seems like he can’t mentally lock in and accept what he has to do. I’ve been coaching HS sports for almost 10 years, and believe it or not his mindset is common among young athletes. A lot of them think talent alone will take them everywhere: they want the D1 scholarship, but don’t want the 5AM workouts, or the work you have to put in in the classroom. You’re starting to see some of that bleed over in to professional sports with a lot of young guys, where it’s like idk…they feel like they’ve made it so the work is done. I think Zion is a good kid and still has some growing up to do, but he really just has to accept that in order to stay in the league he’s gonna have to take care of his body.

[pjortego]

There are a lot of factors here in regards to Zion.

Himself, people around him and how people treats him. What I think he don’t realize yet is that he has a mold to copy. Charles Barkley, it’s possible to be a MVP caliber player with his body type and athleticism. He still has time and I hope it turns out well for him.

[LukasM]

I think the problem is how effortlessly he was so good. Because when you play much less games in school/college, and the games you play, you blow away the competition, without adjusting anything. Now he gotta rehad properly before and after games