Pelicans star Zion Williamson is facing some criticism over the ultimatum he made about the Dunk Contest this week.
We saw shades of the old Zion when the Pels played the Raptors on Monday when he dunked after a half-court alley-oop pass from Jose Alvarado.
After the game, NBA media asked if he would consider entering the Dunk Contest, to which he answered, “I gotta do my part and make the All-Star Game. If I’m in the All-Star Game, I’ll do the dunk contest. But if I’m not, I’m not doing it.”
Some were excited at the prospect of Zion being in the Dunk Contest, which badly needs some NBA talent to step up.
But media personalities, like Shaquille O’Neal, thought Williamson’s declaration lacked confidence.
“I don’t like when you say, ‘If I make the All-Star team,’” O’Neal said on Inside the NBA. “You have to see it, Zion… ‘When I make the All-Star team, yes.’ All that ‘if’ talk just tells me you’re not fully confident in yourself, which is okay. He’s still a young player. But at some point, you have to say, ‘This is my league.’
“You don’t want anybody to put you in the All-Star game. You want to earn that and earn the respect of your peers. But it starts with visualization.”
Fellow NBA legend Jamal Crawford was also less than impressed by Zion’s ultimatum.
“We call that politicking in the hood,” Crawford said. “It’s like him saying, ‘Put me in the All-Star game and I’ll be your show.’ Zion is obviously trying to get back to the level that we all thought we would be at. People have been on him because we see the potential. He just needs to keep playing with force and remain consistent and he’ll be in the All-Star game.”
Sports analyst Colin Cowherd couldn’t help but throw in a joke about Zion’s weight and eating habits when discussing the Pelicans forward’s All-Star ambitions.
“So, he will dunk something besides Doughnuts? …I’d like to see him in the dunk contest,” Cowherd said on The Herd. “And he’s not a good enough player to skip on it. LeBron [James] can skip it. He needs to do the dunk contest; his brand has been injured.”