The New Orleans Pelicans gave their All-Star forward Zion Williamson a five-year, $193 million max rookie extension in 2022 despite him only playing 85 games up to that point. However, it turns out that the franchise protected itself in case Williamson can’t stay healthy enough to justify his huge salary.
In a recent piece published on The Athletic, Mike Vorkunov shared previously unknown details about Williamson’s contract with the Pelicans and revealed that the 23-year-old player lost the guarantees for the final three years of the deal.
As it turns out, the extension stipulated that Williamson can’t miss more than 22 games in the 2022-23 season in order to keep the guarantees. He ended up playing only 29 games due to a hamstring injury, falling way short of the mark.
This means that the Pelicans would be able to move on from Williamson after the 2024-25 season without any consequences. The chances of that seem to be slim, considering that Williamson is a generational talent, but it does protect the team from the worst-case scenario.
Vorkunov adds that there are ways for Williamson to get back some of the lost guarantees by playing enough games and keeping his weight under control.
Williamson played 23 games in 2023-24 and is averaging 22.0 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 4.6 steals per game.
