Zion Williamson has fallen…here’s everything that went wrong with him and all other players including weight #NBA
When I tell you the world had never seen a player more hyped, more physics defying than Zion Williamson, a 6’ 6” 285 pound 45 inch vertical beast.
It’s 2018. Zion Williamson just blocked a 3 pointer jumping from 10 feet out.
He just signed a $75M shoe deal before even entering the league. Scouts and analysts were already thinking GOAT potential, the most talked about prospect since LeBron. And in the NBA he was force, averaged the most point in the paint since Shaq. He was a star.
And fast forward to now and we have…
**A nightmare**
There have only been 3 NBA stars that have gained weight in a way that hurt their career, Charles Barkley, Shaq, and James Harden. But none have failed the way Zion has. **In fact, I have never seen a star fall from the unimaginable heights he once was at in this way.** But what actually happened is far worse.
There are several player in NBA history who ended up gaining too much weight like Eddy Curry, Big Baby Glen Davis, Raymond Felton and ruined any of their potential.
But none were the level of player or potential of Zion, except for one which we’ll get to.
Zion has never been the modern player. He entered the league at 284 pounds without a jumpshot.
But there’s a player in history who was a similar physical archetype. A 6’ 6” power forward in a more physical era that could still bang with everyone, Charles Barkley. A league MVP you know before he started doing this
But entering the NBA draft, Barkley found out that the 76ers would only pay him $75,000 and in his words, “I didn’t leave college for $75,000” so he took drastic actions. Charles Barkley specific gained 20 pounds in 48 hours, from 283 pounds to 302 pounds all at the height of 6’ 6”.
Barkley definitely a freak if he could play basketball at that weight. But 76ers still picked him and Barkley didn’t stay that weight, he immediately slimmed down to 280ish pounds by the end the camp.
But not to everyone’s surprise, that wasn’t the right weight and Barkley had help. Moses Malone
Barkley found he could be faster while maintaining enough strength to play bully ball despite being 4 inches short than the average power forward at the time.
Two times James Harden wanted to leave a team and two times we got images like this. (*show James Harden before and after)*
The end of the James Harden Rockets era was something. In 2020, Harden said that he wanted out before the season started, despite having 3 years left on his contract, right after Daryl Morey had stepped down and he wanted to go to the Nets, not the 76ers, not the Bulls, the Nets. He partied like crazy, publicly (*there’s an interview clip from the video I linked)* and came into training camp looking like this. Harden, more like pillsbury dough boy. And despite being out of shape, in his first game, Harden dropped 44 points and 17 assists. Didn’t matter how much weight he had, he was still effective. His game has never been dependent on on athleticism. His weight has actually been useful in moving defenders in the paint and also keeping balance when defenders are pushing him. Harden was forcing his way out in whatever way necessary, saying the Rockets aren’t good enough, hiring new agents, and of course just gaining weight. On January 12th, Harden played his last game with the Rockets looking like this and he looked like this. Yeah, the fat suit. The trade happened 2 days later on January 14th, and just two days later, we saw this. Harden looking fit. Like really fit. It looked like he had lost 30 pounds in a span of 4 days, fans were saying he just cut his carbs and was able to lose all that weight.
And something similar happened towards the end of the Nets, he wanted out and once again some how he looked like he had let himself go.
**It felt like Zion might be doing the same.** Zion fractured his right foot in the 2021 off season, got surgery, was scheduled to come back for the season opener but he experienced a setback in December, and by March it was clear that he wouldn’t come back.
Again Zion was unstoppable, man is literally Trunks going ascended Super Saiyan against Cell. All that power, all that size, but eventually that form uses too much energy and is unsustainable.
Just like an NBA champion Shaq who thought gaining weight would lead to success.