Getty Zion Williamson with former New Orleans Pelicans head coach Stan Van Gundy in 2020.
For every optimistic New York Knicks fan photoshopping other team’s stars into blue and orange, there is a voice around the league waiting patiently for the team’s downfall.
Because similar to the Los Angeles Lakers‘ window from Kobe Bryant‘s retirement to the arrival of LeBron James, it’s been a series of star-less summers in the Big Apple.
New York’s latest critic comes from the brother of former team head coach Jeff Van Gundy, Stan, who most recently was head coach of the New Orleans Pelicans for two seasons for 2020-2021.
Van Gundy has elected to pop the bubble that’s built up on Knicks Twitter, around conjecture that Zion Williamson could end up bolting the Big Easy for the bright lights of Madison Square Garden.
Because despite averaging an otherworldly 27.0 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game in just his second year, the first overall pick of the 2019 NBA Draft has played just 85 games in three seasons.
Van Gundy on Zion to NY: ‘It’s Possible But Listen…’
On the most recent episode of The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz, Stan Van Gundy was asked about the Zion Williamson rumblings in recent days.
And with next to no hesitation, he immediately started up a filibuster mocking the New York Knicks’ recent history:
It’s possible but listen. The Knicks have this thing & it’s amazing. No matter how many times people have proven they don’t wanna play for the Knicks, the Knicks have this idea that everybody in the league wants to play for New York. Now when is the last time it actually happened that somebody actually came and tried to get their way to New York? Like, never in the last 20 years?
Still, not even Van Gundy went as far as to rule out Williamson in the Big Apple:
I’m not saying he (Zion) won’t end up there…there’s all kinds of ways people can end up somewhere…but this idea that everybody wants to be a New York Knick…I mean if that were the case then they wouldn’t be as bad as they’ve been for the last 20 years.
Yet whether Zion Williamson’s future with the New Orleans Pelicans is worthy of question or not, New York Knicks fans don’t have any reason to think a future with the former Duke star is a non-reality.
Zion Recaptures Headlines
It was Howard Beck of Sports Illustrated who kicked the dust up on Zion speculation, reporting that teams around the league were keeping tabs on the 21-year old, amongst others:
Around the league, team executives are already bracing (and/or plotting) for the next disenchanted star to ask out, with speculation focused on Zion Williamson in New Orleans, Damian Lillard in Portland and Donovan Mitchell in Utah.
That was followed up by CJ McCollum, now a teammate of Williamson’s, saying on national television that the two hadn’t spoken since he was traded to New Orleans some weeks ago:
CJ McCollum — the president of the NBA Players Association — says he hasn’t spoken directly to teammate Zion Williamson.
McCollum tells TNT broadcast crew, “I know about as much as you do right now. But I’m going to get to the bottom of it.”
Those qualms have since been resolved, but not before retired 15-year veteran (and former teammate) JJ Redick blasted Zion on national television, calling him a “detached teammate” of the Pelicans:
Adding pure oxygen and fuel to the forest fire that has become the NBA’s latest star watch, 14-year veteran Matt Barnes flat-out countered that he doesn’t think Zion wants to be in New Orleans:
I don’t think Zion wants to be there. There’s been rumblings, not from him but from his family, from the jump. And it’s hard for small market teams to keep young superstars… I think the writing’s been on the wall for a minute and the Pelicans have overlooked it, hoping they can change things.
The hype surrounding him is certainly warranted, but would a trade, given the character and medical concerns?
This is the question the New York Knicks (and likely many more teams) will have to ask themselves as the NBA’s latest star saga takes shape in real-time.
Despite what Stan Van Gundy may have to say about their chances.
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