Zion Williamson’s lack of conditioning has come under the microscope once again with the former number one draft pick appearing to be especially overweight in recent weeks.
The criticism surrounding Williamson and his weight only intensified when his New Orleans Pelicans suffered an embarrassing 133-89 loss to the Lakers in the NBA Cup semi-final this week.
As if things weren’t bad enough already, now Zion’s former trainer Jasper Bibbs has something to say.
After the Pelicans’ disastrous loss to the Lakers, Bibbs fired some shots on Instagram:
These Instagram posts also followed a report from the New Orleans Times-Picayune claiming people within the Pelicans organization “repeatedly stressed” to Zion that he must improve his diet and conditioning, but that Zion refused to listen.
Williamson has also come under intense recent scrutiny elsewhere in the media, perhaps most notably from Shaquille O’Neal.
“He does not run hard,” Shaq said on Inside The NBA. “He doesn’t seal. He doesn’t demand the ball. Like you got a small guy and we talk about it all the time… You can’t let a little guy guard you…
“He doesn’t have that look. Like, I’m not the greatest ever but I know a look when I see it. … Tiger Woods had that look. Jack Nicholson had that look. “I was just like him. I was just like that but people used to pull me to the side. I had a guy who always used to say hey man, okay you had 24 points but you’re not working as hard.”
This season, Williamson is averaging 22.2 points and 5.6 rebounds per game on 57.4 percent shooting from the field. Those numbers are down from last season, when he averaged 26 points and 7 rebounds per game on 60.8 percent shooting.
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