The Whiteboard: Zion Williamson's turbulent career has left every door open

Zion Williamson made his long-awaited return from a hamstring injury on Tuesday. He scored 22 points in 28 minutes, logging six rebounds, four assists, three steals, and a block.

It was an impressive return, although it came in another New Orleans Pelicans loss. Williamson did not seem impeded by any lingering ill-effects from his months-long rehab. He gave us a vintage 360 slam to assuage such concerns.

And yet, Williamson's return took on a classically bittersweet taste. Of course it was nice to see the former No. 1 pick on the floor, but New Orleans still couldn't put a W in the win column. Then, on the second night of a back-to-back Wednesday, Williamson sat. And the Pelicans lost, again. To a bad Portland team. By 19 points.

At 7-31, any postseason hopes are out the window for New Orleans, which begs the question: what should the team do with Williamson the rest of the way? Playing him is inherently risky, but there's no way a tier-one star gets benched for months. New Orleans isn't playing for anything except the No. 1 pick at this point, and Zion works against the Pels' Cooper Flagg bid.

Trade rumblings have cropped up, but the Pelicans wouldn't get much of anything for the 24-year-old with his injury history. That is assuming anybody would even swallow Zion's remaining contract, which runs through 2027-28 at roughly $40 million annually. That contract is hefty, but it's also largely non-guaranteed due to injury protections built into his deal. So, in theory, the Pelicans could waive their fatally-flawed franchise talent. All the doors are open, but which should New Orleans take?

It's almost impossible to devise a satisfying answer.

The Pelicans' Zion Williamson conundrum has no easy answers

Here's the simple truth at the core of this "problem," or whatever we want to call it. Zion Williamson is a great basketball player. Put all the off-court noise aside, because it doesn't matter. We can quibble about his conditioning or his "want to," but Zion has always delivered when he's on the floor. There's a reason New Orleans made him the No. 1 pick, and there's a reason Williamson has two All-Star berths under his belt before his 25th birthday despite losing multiple seasons to injury.

Williamson is a major talent, held back entirely by forces beyond his control. We've never really seen an athlete like Zion in the NBA. Nobody can match his blend of explosiveness, strength, quickness, and dexterity. And that appears to be a singularly combustive combination. Williamson exerts immense force on his legs as a result of his play style — a style that yields tremendous results when it doesn't lead to copious injuries.

It's not like Zion can really adapt. His excellence is rooted almost entirely in athleticism. Williamson reads the floor quickly and makes strong on-ball decisions, but he can't effectively take on a more ground-bound, streamlined role. Zion needs to be driving the lane and collapsing the defense, or weaponizing his speed and burst in the open floor. He doesn't shoot, he's not especially advanced as a ball-handler or facilitator. The Pelicans can't ask him to jump less or play slower, because it would completely undermine Williamson's efficacy on the court.

In short, Zion needs to play like Zion, for better or for worse. That leaves New Orleans at a troublesome and murky crossroads. Trading Zion for scraps feels unimaginable because of the upside still tied to his remarkable talent. The same can be said for cutting him outright. It would save the Pelicans money and free up cap space, but to what end? New Orleans is not a free agent destination, and there's still plenty of salary wrapped up between Dejounte Murray, CJ McCollum, and Brandon Ingram.

New Orleans can rebuild — hope for a top pick and the chance to build around a Cooper Flagg or Dylan Harper — but for a team swimming in tradable assets and loaded with talent, a complete teardown is akin to an admission of failure. This Pelicans team won 49 games last season. There has to be a way through, a way to stabilize around Zion. That is the dream, at least.

In theory, the Pelicans have enough trade ammo to pursue the likes of De'Aaron Fox or Jimmy Butler on the trade market. Fox, in particular, would align nicely with Zion's timeline, although it's fair to wonder about fit. New Orleans can justify chalking this up as a cursed season and regrouping in 2025-26. It may not placate the fanbase, but it would, frankly, preserve more optionality long term, because there's no direction but up for Zion's trade value. And trading him is far more desirable, on paper, than cutting him outright.

Cooper Flagg is the dream. Williamson, Flagg, Murray, Herb Jones, Trey Murphy — that's as solid a foundation as you'll find in the NBA, even with Zion's innante unreliability. Then New Orleans can more comfortably get aggressive on the trade front, as stars are bound to be open to the idea of playing with Williamson and Flagg, as opposed to just the former.

The odds of New Orleans actually landing Flagg, however, are slim. The best possible odds, in fact, are 14 percent, and that assumes the Pelicans don't heat up and win a few more games once Zion is back in the rotation full-time. So it's a risky bet, and there's never any guarantees on draft night. The Pelicans could run it back with a top-five pick and suffer the same fate next season. Zion could get hurt again. In fact, historically, it's more likely than not, and this team has not held up so well in his absence of late.

I don't know how to fix this. I could say, hey, the Warriors should try to get in there and trade for Williamson on the cheap. A few teams probably should, but the Pels are better off waiting — as naive as that may seem right now. Williamson is the NBA's least reliable cornerstone. A superstar through and through, but only available half the time. New Orleans has built around this same core for years. In theory, continuity should work in the Pels' favor, but it has been a complete mess this season, in large part due to the constantly shifting nature of Willie Green's available personnel.

Odds are we won't know how the Zion-New Orleans marriage ends for a while longer. He's not getting traded at the deadline. That much feels certain. As for what happens beyond this season... well, only time will tell.

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NBA news roundup:

• Bradley Beal has put together a pair of 25-point performances since being moved to the bench in Phoenix. The Suns want to push him out, but Beal has taken the demotion in stride and operated as the consummate pro. That was always his persona in Washington, so the Suns should've seen it coming. Beal's trade value is probably beyond saving, but if the 31-year-old continues to ball out, maybe something percolates in time for the Feb. 6 trade deadline.

• Miami does not have a quality offer on the table for Jimmy Butler and is prepared to operate patiently, per Sam Amick of The Athletic. With his seven-game suspension ending soon, odds are Butler will wear a Heat uniform again. How cordially he does so ... that remains to be seen.

• Cooper Flagg started a bit slow out of the gate scoring-wise, but the Duke freshman has been on a heater over his last three games, all against ACC opponents. He's averaging 22.7 points, 8.0 rebounds, 4.7 assists, and 3.7 stocks during that span, shooting 62.5 percent on 3s for good measure. He is up against a loaded draft class, but there's no real question as to who deserves to be the No. 1 pick in June.

NBA All-Star picks ... 10 days in advance

We are a little more than a week from the close of NBA All-Star voting on Jan. 20. This is an especially competitive year for individual honors, which will make life hard on fans, coaches, and players alike in the virtual voting booth.

Here are my picks 1.5 weeks out. Starters are in bold.

Eastern Conference All-Stars

Western Conference All-Stars