39.44 million! Turned to full guarantee! Congratulations to Zion, successfully staying in the team

On July 16, according to Pelicans reporter Shamit Dua, league sources revealed that New Orleans Pelicans star Zion Williamson's contract for the 2025-26 season ($39.44 million) will be converted to full guarantee.

According to the contract, if Zion Williamson is not cut by the New Orleans Pelicans on July 16, his contract for the new season will be fully guaranteed, with a salary of $39.44 million. At this point, this also announced that Zion Williamson had successfully stayed in the team, and he also successfully put his salary worth $39.44 million next season into his pocket.

It is reported that Zion Williamson signed a five-year renewal contract worth $197 million with his old club New Orleans Pelicans on July 6, 2022, but this renewal contract is only partially guaranteed. The starting salary is US$34.11 million in the 2023-24 season and US$36.73 million in the 2024-25 season. Among them, the contracts in the 2025-26 season, 2026-27 season and 2027-28 season are all insured, with salary of US$39.44 million, US$42.17 million and US$44.89 million respectively.

This means that only when Zion Williamson meets the contract signing conditions, his unsecured contract will be regained full protection for the last three years. The New Orleans Pelicans set the regaining guarantee conditions when signing a contract with Zion Williamson: pass regular weight checks + meet the standards.

There is no doubt that the Pelicans set the regaining condition is to encourage Zion Williamson to be proactive at all times. The rules require him to manage his weight while ensuring health. Otherwise, he will face the embarrassment and dilemma of having to leave the Pelicans roll after playing this season next season! Since entering the league as the No. 1 NBA Draft in 2019, Zion Williamson's health has been a big problem, which is also a stumbling block that seriously hinders him from becoming a superstar. Zion Williamson has only played 214 regular season games for the New Orleans Pelicans in the past six years, with a career attendance rate far below 50%. Therefore, this also made many fans joke about him: Zion Williamson is good at playing basketball, but he is rarely seen playing basketball!

In the just-passed 2024-25 season, Zion Williamson played 30 regular season games for the Pelicans, averaging 28.6 minutes per game, scoring 24.6 points, 7.2 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 1.2 breaks and 0.9 blocks, shooting percentage of 56.7%, three-point shooting percentage of 23.1%, and free throw shooting percentage of 65.6%.

From the strongest No. 1 pick in the NBA after being with LeBron James, to the fact that the contract needs to meet the conditions before it can be fully guaranteed, Zion Williamson's career is really a pity! He could have killed all sides in the penalty area and became a league-dominated interior superstar, but he had a fragile and irresistible body and a body that was easy to gain weight. This directly led to the unsatisfactory development of Zion Williamson's career! If it weren't for the invasion of injuries every now and then, perhaps Zion Williamson would have already shouldered the responsibility of taking over James. But what Zion Williamson has left us now is: sad for his misfortune and anger for his failure to fight!

I hope this genius forward who was once regarded as James' successor can be shameless and brave, and I have no expectations! But no matter what, we still want to congratulate Zion Williamson on successfully converting the unsecured salary contract of 39.44 million next season to full protection, thereby avoiding the embarrassment of being laid off and unemployed!

May Zion work hard in the coming days and use his stadium performance to fulfill the strength of the No. 1 pick you should have! Come on, Zion Williamson!