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Will Zion Williamson ever be in top shape? | Good Word with Goodwill

Yahoo Sports senior NBA reporter Vincent Goodwill and basketball analyst Isis "Ice" Young react to news that the New Orleans star is dealing with a hamstring injury and question whether the Pelicans power forward will ever reach his peak physical potential. Hear the full conversation on “Good Word with Goodwill” and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you listen.

Video Transcript

I, I wanna start with Zion Zion's injury is a hamstring in the quad that limited him to 29 games and 22.

23.

He's day to day now.

They actually left him at home.

They told him not even to come to the arena the other night.

According to head coach Willie Green, if Zion Williamson is on your team, this is something you're going to have to deal with for however long he plays.

I don't think we're ever going to get to a point where we're like, you know what Zion Williamson lost the weight.

He looks like an Adonis and now he's gonna play 75 games, be healthy for the ends season tournament, be healthy for the playoffs, be healthy for everything.

It's a matter of almost like Joel and beat, but in a different way where you're just gonna have to pick and choose your spots.

And unfortunately, for him, I feel like it's going to be one of those things where man, is he going to have a long career, longish career.

Pardon?

You hit it.

That, that's literally my note here was like, I wonder how much longer we'll actually be talking about him.

You know, I, I think with just the way his, his body is structured, the way in which he plays, like putting pressure on the rim, getting down the floor, converting inside.

Like he does these things at such a high level.

But it's all because of his physicality, it's all because of the pressure that he's putting on the claw, the calf, the knees, the ankles, et cetera.

So I, I think that's actually the biggest question for him is like, how much longer is he gonna play?

And at some point, obviously, we've been talking about his weight and his body forever, but maybe we were talking about it before and saying, hey, his game could reach this level if his body got into the physique, it's supposed to.

Now we're talking about you making money.

Now, we're talking about the longevity of your career in terms of your body getting to where it needs to be.

Like, it's two different kinds, two different types of conversations and the tough conversation that we're having from a 2019 draft pick.

Like, I don't think we should be having this now.

I think he was young enough to get his body in shape years ago.

At this point.

It, it's almost, it's been a bit irresponsible.