Zion Williamson-powered Pelicans are running out of time to use potential as a crutch

For all of Zion Williamson's career, the prevailing opinion in NBA circles is that once New Orleans gets fully healthy, it'll be ready to compete with the NBA elite. That logic is sound if you're judging solely the talent on New Orleans' roster. Williamson, CJ McCollum, Brandon Ingram, Trey Murphy III, Jonas Valanciunas, Herb Jones and a few promising youngsters should equate to a good team. 

How long can New Orleans afford to wait for "should?"

Williamson receives more unfair criticism than most NBA players. Yes, the former No. 1 overall pick should be more dominant, and yes, his conditioning should be closely monitored as injuries continue to pile up — Williamson is in his fifth season but has played just 134 games in his career. 

More often than not, though, Williamson is also a highly impactful player who stepped on an NBA court and almost immediately started scoring 25 points a game. This season, he is averaging 22.9 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.7 assists.

Even when Williamson is healthy and dominating, is this Pelicans team built to succeed?

Last season began with promise for the Pelicans. Through 35 games, they were 23-12. But then the injuries came, causing a 7-19 record during January and February that crippled their season beyond repair. A loss in the play-in ended their season, and the promise felt during November and December was a long-gone memory.

Aside from that 35-game stretch last season and a fun first-round series with Phoenix the season before (which New Orleans lost 4-2), this Pels team has never really shown that it can compete at a high level for a sustained period.

Every NBA team gets bitten by the injury bug, and New Orleans' luck has been extraordinarily bad in that regard. McCollum and Murphy have already missed extended time this season, but the franchise can't continue to rely on unfulfilled potential due to injuries as its go-to reason for why the team didn't achieve its goals. Hence, a statement this season — a playoff series win at least — is imperative for New Orleans to prove that it really can compete with the winners of this league.

What if that doesn't happen? Then it might be time for a real discussion about the makeup of this team. Ingram, Williamson and McCollum can be high-level producers on winning teams, but it just might not make sense for them to be the same team. 

The rest of the roster is far from barren. Murphy III (17 PPG, 50.9% FC percentage) continues to grow as a prototypical 2023 wing, Jones (11.8 PPG, 4.5 RPG) is a near-elite defender and Dyson Daniels (4.6 RPG, 2.2 STL per 36 minutes) has shown enough chops as a defender to warrant optimism. 

None of these players have bad contracts. McCollum is making $66M over the next two seasons, Murphy will likely get a lucrative extension in the near future and Jones is on a team-friendly deal.

New Orleans could restructure its roster pretty easily if it comes to that — as long as the front office can accept that this version of the Pelicans just doesn't work and the 2023-24 season peters out like the past few have.