ZION Williamson

Williamson has played in all four Pelicans games to open the season, and New Orleans has gone 3-1 in them. He scored 11 points with 5 rebounds and 1 assist in 22.1 minutes in a win over Washington on October 16. Two games earlier, on October 14, he had 10 points, 0 rebounds and 1 assist in 18.4 minutes in a win over Dallas. The one loss in the stretch came October 8 against Miami, when he put up 8 points, 1 rebound and 1 assist in 16.3 minutes. On October 6, in a win over Oklahoma City, he scored 11 points with 4 rebounds and 1 assist in 16.2 minutes. His minutes and scoring in these four games are down from his season-long averages a year ago.

Last season, Williamson played 62 games for New Orleans, averaging 21.0 points, 5.7 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.0 steal and 0.5 blocks in 29.7 minutes a night. He shot 60.0 percent from the field, 25.0 percent from three and 71.6 percent from the foul line, with a true shooting mark of 64.4 percent on a 25.0 usage rate. His plus-minus for the season was -1.3. Those numbers made him one of the most efficient high-usage scorers in the league when he was on the floor. He finished last season with the Pelicans and remains with New Orleans for 2026-27, so last year's production is the clearest recent read on what he brings when healthy for a full season.

A report dated September 28 grouped Williamson with Bey, AD, MPJ and Wallace in a rundown of extension notes around the Pelicans roster. The report did not detail terms for Williamson specifically, and nothing here confirms a deal is close or signed. It's a snapshot of where contract conversations stood in late September, not a resolution. Extension windows and roster-building moves tend to generate chatter well before anything is finalized, and this is exactly that kind of early-market report. Pelicans fans watching his next contract will want to see what, if anything, follows this report as the season moves along. For now, it's a name on a list of players whose deals are being discussed, nothing more.

Williamson wears No. 1 for New Orleans, plays forward, and measures in at 6-foot-6 and 277 pounds. He's 26 years old and enters his seventh NBA season out of Duke. That combination of size and age puts him squarely in his athletic prime physically, with seven years of NBA experience now behind him. He remains the same frame and build that made him a load for defenders to handle in the paint and in transition last season. The size numbers matter for context on his game: a 6-6 forward at 277 pounds who still logged 29.7 minutes a night last season when the games counted. That's the physical starting point for whatever role he plays in 2026-27.