Pelicans star Zion Williamson is eligible to sign a contract extension with the team this summer, but executive vice president of basketball operations David Griffin admitted that negotiations could be challenging, as relayed by Christian Clark of NOLA.com.
“Obviously, that conversation is going to be one that will be a challenge,” Griffin said. “When it’s time to have that, we’ll have it. And right now what we’re focused on is him being healthy, and (being in) kind of elite condition to play basketball, and we’ll start there.”
Clark explores what Griffin could’ve meant by using the word “challenge,” noting that Williamson has dealt with multiple injuries since being drafted. The former No. 1 overall pick expressed optimism last month about staying in New Orleans long-term, but he’s only appeared in 85 games across three seasons with the team.
Here are some other notes from the Western Conference:
- Speaking of contract extensions, Grizzlies star Ja Morant is eager to sign one with the team this offseason, as shared by Evan Barnes of the Memphis Commercial Appeal (video link). Morant is coming off a career-best season, averaging 27.4 points, 5.7 rebounds and 6.7 assists per game. “I’m definitely happy to be here. Memphis is my home,” Morant said, later offering a “hell yeah” to whether he wants to stay long-term.
- Morant is also hoping to avoid offseason surgery on his knee, as relayed by the Memphis Commerical Appeal. The 22-year-old suffered a bone bruise in Game 3 of the Grizzlies‘ second-round series against Golden State. He didn’t play for the rest of the series.
- The Timberwolves have declined to pick up their option on assistant general manager Gianluca Pascucci‘s contract for next season, according to Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic, who explores what the team’s recent front office changes say about Sachin Gupta‘s future with the organization. Minnesota agreed this week to hire Steve Senior as an assistant GM.
Nothing about Ja threatening to use hollow points on someone?
Like that?— a hollow point! lol▶<:D
wuz wrong wit sharin bluntz?
Zion to the hawks….
The Pelican’s decision on Zion’s future is a truly challenging situation. Is he the next Giannis or the next Greg Oden?
Is there not a way to sign a guy like Zion to a max deal with conditions? Kind of like an NFL deal where it’s performance based, or based on number of games, or certain season accolades? I’m asking seriously because I don’t know
It’s possible. Joel Embiid’s second contract with the Sixers was a max deal that became non-guaranteed if he sustained certain recurring injuries.
If they agreed to a contract like that and the Pelicans wanted to avoid paying Zion’s full salary, they’d have to waive him.
Bonuses based on performance benchmarks or games-played criteria would also be a possibility, but only a certain percentage of a contract can be made up of incentives (ie. you can’t sign a player to a $5MM deal with $25MM in bonuses).
Luka and Zion in the pick n roll would be fun.