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Will Guillory: Final: Pelicans 114, Grizzlies 106 Another strong performance from the Pels with most of their guys healthy. Derik Queen had 22 pts, 9 rebounds and 7 assists. Saddiq Bey had 22 points and 8 rebounds. Zion Williamson had 21 points on 7-10 shooting. Pels improve to 3-1 over their last 4 games. They're starting to figure some things out on both ends of the floor.
According to multiple independent sources, Sole Retriever can exclusively report that Jordan Brand has no plans to release another Jordan Zion model after the Jordan Zion 4. Zion signed one of the largest rookie contracts in the sneaker endorsement world, with his seven-year, $75 million deal making headlines in 2019 before he even stepped foot on an NBA court. There has been no news or reports of Zion signing an extension with Jordan Brand to this point, meaning his contract is up this year.
The Sun-Times confirmed a report that the Bulls have had ongoing talks with the Pelicans about players such as forward Zion Williamson and center Yves Missi. While the chatter around Williamson has quieted on the Pelicans’ end, there has been momentum around Missi. The question is, at what cost?
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New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson was supposed to be the next big thing in the NBA. Gifted with otherworldly athleticism given his size and build, Zion was a force of nature that looked to dominate the league. However, Williamson’s NBA career hasn’t just been derailed by many injuries; it has been blemished by his alleged affairs involving OnlyFans models. Because of this, former NBA stars Lindsey Hunter and Tim Hardaway think that Williamson has a compulsive sexual behavior. “He got a problem,” said Hunter. “The man’s a sex addict. He’s been caught. He needs help. Why does he keep texting them from his phone? … He’s going for like p-rnstars. What is wrong with him? He needs to chill out. They need to give him therapy. Talking to him is not gonna help. I’m sure people have talked to him already… That means you have a problem. Can’t control himself.”
Sam Amick: The Pelicans are putting up a good face saying no on trade inquiries for Herb Jones, no on Trey Murphy - well, not completely 'no' on Trey, but they have a pretty high price tag on him. Even Zion Williamson, I can't remember a year where we got so many high-profile stars, players, who you feel might be available for trades, right now, we got Ja Morant, LaMelo Ball, all the way down the lion, and Zion, to me, should be at the top of the list. The Pelicans should be really open to listening to move him, and I do think, in the right situation, he could be a difference-maker, there's not much talk on Zion getting traded at this point. It's a little bit quiet, though a possibility, I think. Joe Dumars told teams he wanted to really get a good look at Zion, and I don't know how long that look needs to be before he makes up his mind, but if I got to handicap right now, it probably won't happen before the trade deadline.
Suns beat Pelicans 123-114 behind 20 points from Devin Booker, 17 points, seven rebounds and seven assists for Collin Gillespie. Zion Williamson has 22 points on 11 shots for New Orleans.
Grant Afseth: Final: Pelicans 119, Mavericks 113 Anthony Davis: 35 PTS, 17 REB, 1 BLK Klay Thompson: 20 PTS, 5 REB Cooper Flagg: 16 PTS, 6 REB, 6 AST Zion Williamson: 24 PTS, 9 REB Derik Queen: 19 PTS, 11 REB, 6 AST Saddiq Bey: 19 PTS, 7 REB Dallas (11-19) hosts the Nuggets on Tuesday.
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Pelicans Film Room: "The goal was to maximize his minutes. It's a math game... I knew he was gonna respond well but for him to approach it this way in the mature, team first mentality, he deserves credit for that" -- James Borrego on Zion coming off the bench
"The goal was to maximize his minutes. It's a math game... I knew he was gonna respond well but for him to approach it this way in the mature, team first mentality, he deserves credit for that"
— Pelicans Film Room (@PelsFilmRoom) December 23, 2025
-- James Borrego on Zion coming off the bench pic.twitter.com/IzuIS5KgAK
That leaves Matas Buzelis, 21, as the power forward by default. It’s not necessarily a bad thing on most nights, but it’s not exactly a matchup coach Billy Donovan looks forward to when the Bulls are taking on people-movers such as Zion Williamson or Julius Randle. “In fairness to Matas, there are matchups that are tough,” Donovan said. “He’s a second-year player that’s only going to get stronger, bigger, and as he matures, those matchups probably will be easier physically. ‘‘When he’s having to go hypothetically against a Julius Randle or an Evan Mobley, those guys are playing close to the basket, and they’re really physical. Those are tough matchups for a second-year player like Matas. So if you can get him to small forward for some of the game — not all of the game — I don’t mind playing Matas with two bigs. I never looked at Matas as a big.”
EssentiallySports spoke to three outside medical experts for perspective on Williamsons’ injury history, his current injuries and their outlook on his health. Though none of these doctors have worked with Williamson and have access to his medical files, they have worked with patients who have dealt with similar injuries. What do you make of Zion’s latest injuries? Dunphy: “Grade 1 is mild. Grade 2 is a partial tear. Grade 3 is a full tear. It’s favorable that it’s not a full tear. That’s good news. But for explosive athletes, any kind of hamstring, adductor or quad tear can take a long time to heal. I typically tell my patients that Grade 2 injuries take six weeks to heal. But obviously, each patient is different. Grade 1 is about a week or two. Grade 2 is about six weeks. But for some football players, a hamstring injury can take 12 weeks. Grade 3 is more severe. That could yield to season-ending surgery. Given his history, Zion’s nursing one injury into another. That means the likelihood to return quickly is not going to happen. They’re not going to put him out there again just to get hurt two weeks later. So it’s a slow go and one of these injuries that you have to rehab, be slow to return and be smart about the explosion.”
Given the nature of hamstring and adductor injuries as well as Zion’s injury history, how would you characterize what your level of concern is with him? Dunphy: “It’s crazy how many injuries he’s had. Zion is 25. So you wonder what that looks like in the future. You see these big guys. He’s not a Yao Ming kind of guy. But there are guys that just cannot stay healthy. They have all of these stress fractures and soft-tissue injuries, and it doesn’t look good. If you’re missing multiple sessions in one season, the odds of it happening again would probably be high. I wouldn’t say the recurrence rate is out of the norm. But if I was a betting person, I would say if he returns, he may have something else coming up. That’s always a concern. And why is he so injury-prone? That’s the question that someone closer to him would have a better sense of. Is it how they’re treating him? Are they pushing him too hard? Or not enough? I don’t know him personally, obviously. But those are the questions.” Shah: “It’s concerning given the fact that he’s had a plethora of injuries since entering the league. He started out with a meniscus injury. He’s had hamstring injuries. He’s had adductor strains. There are all indications that it’s a structural problem or overuse injuries. So it’s concerning that it’s been happening season by season. I don’t know if you can rank which injury is more significant than the other. But when you’re looking at the number of injuries he’s had and the types of injuries he’s had, the strength of those areas of the body to the level of play that he’s requesting his body to perform isn’t equal.