The New Orleans Pelicans have had the season from hell. After trading for DeJounte Murray last offseason, the Pelicans were walking into this season with hopes of having a contending team led by Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram, Murray and CJ McCollum.
Fast forward to March; Ingram no longer lives in the country, Murray has played 31 games and Williamson has played 25 games. And the Pelicans are competing in the Cooper Flagg sweepstakes rather than for a playoff series win.
The trio of Murray-Ingram-Williamson didn't play a single minute together this season.
The New Orleans fanbase has experienced a dark season. However, there is a lone bright spot, a light at the end of the tunnel.
And it's the play of their franchise player, Zion Williamson.
Let's get the obvious out of the way before seeing how the former No. 1 pick has played. Williamson has only played 25 games, and every year of his career will be centered around a huge "if he's healthy."
Health has — and will continue to be — the determining factor for how Williamson's career will eventually play out. Whether Williamson will take his career seriously enough off the court to remain in shape are all questions that will surround him until they are consistently answered.
However, there is already some reason to believe the mentality is changing. According to Michael Wright of ESPN, Williamson is currently playing at the lightest weight of his NBA career, 264 pounds. Tune into any Pelicans game and the eye test will match this report; Williamson looks like he's in the best shape of his NBA career.
And he might be playing the best basketball of his career.
Williamson passes the eye test and the stat deep dive
Williamson has been on a minutes restriction all season, but this has not stopped him from putting up some of the best per-minute statistics we've ever seen. In just 28 minutes per game, Williamson is averaging 24.6 points, 7.4 rebounds, 5.1 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.0 blocks per game. He's also maintained his incredible efficiency at 59.7 true shooting percentage.
These numbers in such a small number of minutes are genuinely unbelievable. In a recent game against the Los Angeles Lakers, Williamson scored 37 points, six assists, four rebounds, two stocks, and 17-23 shooting... in only 26 minutes. In a rare game recently that saw him play past 30 minutes (just 31 minutes), Williamson recorded his first triple-double of his career on 72 percent true shooting.
You look deeper into the numbers and it gets even better. The impact metrics all suggest this is the best season of his career. A career-high 4.3 EPM, 7.2 BPM and 28.5 PER indicate that what Williamson is doing this year in limited minutes is unlike anything we've seen in his career and anything most of us have ever seen.
Despite the Pelicans sitting at 17-46, with Williamson on the floor he gives them a chance to win every night.
Williamson has played in 710 minutes so far this season. According to Cleaning The Glass, of all NBA players that have played at least 700 minutes, Zion ranks fifth in the NBA in on/off net rating differential at +14.4 points per 100 possessions. To further explain what this means: the Pelicans are 14.4 points better when Williamson is on the floor. That swing in team performance when a singular player is on versus off the floor is at the top of the NBA.
The Pelicans offense is 9.2 points better with Williamson on the floor and scoring at a rate of a top-10 offense. The ball is being put in Williamson's hands more than ever before, and he's responding by not only scoring at a historic rate per minute but also creating open looks for his teammates better than he ever has.
His 35.5 assist percentage is blowing past his previous career high set last season at 26.5 percent, with a slightly lower turnover percentage; falling from 12.8 to 12.4 percent this year.
To add to his historic offensive ceiling, Williamson is extending how far he is dangerous as a scorer this year. This season, Williamson is taking a career-low 59 percent of his shots within four feet of the basket, although he's remained an insane finisher at the rim. However, he's now taking a career-high 38 percent of his shots from between 4-14 feet of the basket.
On these shots farther from the rim, Williamson ranks in the 82nd percentile, shooting 50 percent. No, Williamson is not shooting threes now. However, extending his range to be dangerous in the floater and short mid-range area makes it even more impossible to stop him from getting to the rim. Williamson's touch from everywhere within the free-throw line is some of the best in the entire NBA.
Per-36 numbers can be a bit misleading sometimes, but they do a decent job illustrating what a player could do if given more minutes. Obviously, Zion will be playing more than just 28 minutes per game in the future, so using per-36 gives a nuanced insight into what numbers he could be putting up with more minutes. His numbers per-36 are all career highs, across the board.
31.2 points, 9.4 rebounds, and 6.5 assists per-36 minutes are all insane numbers to put up. All the numbers, and the eye test, suggest this is the best offensive version of Zion Williamson we've ever seen. It's been wonderful to watch.
Zion has locked in at the defensive end
Williamson's play defensively, though? That is what's making this season the best Zion Williamson we've ever seen, and it explains why this version of the Duke product next year could be an MVP candidate next season.
Make no mistake: The argument isn't that Williamson is now an All-Defense member. Instead, Williamson is making an impact defensively and is no longer the slouch he was at other points in his career.
This season, Williamson is averaging a career-high 1.3 steals and 1.0 blocks. His activity as a weakside rim protector, aggression in the passing lanes, and improved lateral movement on the perimeter are all career-best, primarily due to his losing over 20 pounds and being at the lightest weight of his NBA career.
The Pelicans defense is also much better with Williamson on the floor than with him off this season. When Williamson is on the floor, the defense is 5.2 points better than with him off the court; of any Pelican that has played 500 plus minutes, that ranks second only behind Herbert Jones.
This is the best we've ever seen Zion Williamson. It's all going unnoticed because of *waves wildly at everything else going on in New Orleans*.
Heading into next season, with another high draft pick in a good draft, another offseason to build around Trey Murphy III and Williamson, the Pelicans will be a sneaky contender during the 2025-2026 season.
And if Zion Williamson maintains this new mentality and level of shape he's in (and it's a huge if, as always) go ahead and get ready for those "Zion for MVP" talks next season.