New Orleans Pelicans Superstar Forward Gets Praise From 'Inside the NBA' Crew

The New Orleans Pelicans are no strangers to their superstar forward bringing in the praise, and he ranks highly in yet another preseason power ranking.

Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

The New Orleans Pelicans have been preparing all summer for their opening game of the 2024-25 regular season at the Smoothie King Center against the Chicago Bulls.

The team improved their roster by acquiring Dejounte Murray from the Atlanta Hawks, giving them a true point guard for the first time since Lonzo Ball suited up for the Pelicans, while also baffling the nation with their lack of a true center who is capable of taking the floor as a part of the starting five on the roster.

While the rest of the country may not have this Pelicans team as a whole figured out, there is no question that the roster is filled with talent, especially within the starting five.

A recent article from Bleacher Report shines a light on that talent, as the Inside the NBA Crew, Shaquille O'Neal, Charles Barkley, and Kenny Smith, ranked their top 50 players in the NBA entering the season.

Coming in at number 36 on their list is superstar power forward Zion Williamson.

Zion is entering his sixth season in the Association, though he did miss all of the 2021-22 campaign due to injury.

Injuries have plagued the superstar throughout his career, limiting him to just 184 games across four seasons, for an average of 46 games per year.

While that does not bode well for the superstar and has proved detrimental to the team's chances at contention, Williamson did play in a career-high 70 games last year, and after working hard this offseason on stamina and durability while also cutting weight to 260 pounds, the forward is doing everything in his power to reach that mark again this year if not surpass it.

Zion's game took on a different form in the 2023-24 campaign, seeing a career-low usage rate (29.7 percent), a career-low in points for the two years that he played in more than 50 games (22.9), a career-low in rebounds (5.8), but career-highs in assists (5.0), steals (1.1), and blocks (0.7).

This year, with the addition of Murray to the already stacked roster, Williamson will have many more scoring opportunities as Murray will be handling the lion's share of the facilitating on offense, leaving Zion to get himself open off the ball and find driving lanes to get to the basket and do what he does best.

It is an interesting year for New Orleans, to say the least.

But with the roster that the organization has constructed, they have more than enough talent to contend for a playoff spot, potentially even earning a higher seed than where they entered the playoffs last season.