Lakers Coach Opens Up About Pelicans forward Zion Williamson & His Weight

Getty Zion Williamson

In his rookie season, New Orleans Pelicans forward, Zion Williamson is filling up a stat sheet.

In fact: the Duke product is averaging 23.6 points and 6.8 rebounds per contest.

He’ll only rise from here.

Appearing on the Scoop B Radio Podcast, former Los Angeles Lakers player and assistant coach, Tracy Murray discussed Zion Williamson‘s impact and more.

Check out a snippet from our Q&A below:

Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: When you look at the NBA, there’s a guy who came in with a name and a lot of fanfare during his time at Duke, during his time in high school. The social media with him and LiMelo Ball. I know there was standing room only in there at that game in the summertime a couple years ago. Do you think Zion will live up to that hype?

Tracy Murray: I feel bad for Zion because in this social media era, I feel bad for any of these kids. Because they’re under the microscope at such an early age, that it’s unfair. It’s really unfair. These guys are hyped up to be the next coming before they even sniff the League. It puts a tremendous amount of pressure and scrutiny on these kids and they do not deserve that yet. The reason why I would say no Zion – I hope he does. Trust me, I’m a Zion fan. I hope he does meet that expectation. But when have you seen a guy 6’6”, 285, that jumps to the moon like he does? Remember what goes up, must come down and when it comes down, it’s twice the pounding on your body. And he’s out right now because of what’s going on with his legs. That was my concern before all of this happened. My concern was all of that weight going up, all of that weight coming down, back and knees. That’s what I was worried about with him. Back and knees. And it was just too much weight to carry up with that frame and that’s what worries me about him.

Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson: So do you think a slimmer ‘him’ – I guess my question is, if he lost a ton of weight…

Tracy Murray: I say if he was 245 that would be fantastic. Because I look at Zion right now and he reminds me of Rodney Rodgers [Wake Forest]… because Rodney Rodgers was a big strong guy like that you 6’7”, 265, he shot it better than Zion. Zion jumped higher than he did, but they were both extremely strong with big bodies and Rodney stopped jumping like that and kind of grounded his game a little bit. And he was able to last as long as he lasted. But Zion’s game is mostly based on athleticism at that size. So that’s what scares me about his game at this point. If he can develop a jump shot and ground his game a little bit and doesn’t fly as much at that weight, maybe he can last longer. If he can last longer than he would achieve what most of his hype is.