With an annual salary of 40 million, he fell injured again! Zion has become the most vulnerable No. 1 pick, you should be traded

In the past few years, each of the top picks has boasted more powerfully than the last. What is their strength?

The strongest player is definitely Bunyama. He won the block title in the first two seasons of his career and was selected as an All-Star. He has evolved again this season and now averages 27 points and 14 rebounds per game. He is ranked in the top five in the MVP list. In modern basketball, Giannis Antetokounmpo's physical talent is already top-notch, but Wenban Yama is even more terrifying; at 2.26 meters tall, he can dribble the ball at will, shoot without blind spots, and has the coordination of a defender; it is unprecedented and hard to come by.

Flagg, the No. 1 pick this year, is nicknamed the Son of America and is modeled after Larry Bird. He is an all-around forward with personal attributes. However, although Flagg’s performance so far in the new season is not bad, it has not met expectations, averaging 13.6 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game.

After James, there are several top picks like Flagg and Wenban who caused a stir before entering the league, such as Andrew Wiggins and Ben Simmons.

Big brother Wiggins was even hailed as the next LeBron James at the time, with top-notch athletic ability; unfortunately, Wiggins could not raise his attitude during the game. He did not like to use his physical talents, but played health basketball; this directly made it difficult for him to break through the upper limit, and he could only reach the edge of the All-Star level at best.

As for Simmons, it is even more regrettable. First, he has never been able to develop his shooting. Secondly, in his last year with the 76ers, Simmons suffered a double blow from injuries and psychological factors. His personal ability plummeted and he was completely reduced to a role player. Now he has reached a situation where no one wants him. Simmons has not found a home this season.

In addition, there is another embarrassing number one pick, and that is Zion. Zion's popularity before entering the league was no less than that of Wenban and Flagg. During the NCAA period, he stepped on a pair of sneakers, which directly caused Nike to lose US$1.3 billion in market value, which is enough to prove his influence. After joining the NBA, Zion did not disappoint. In the second season of his career, he averaged 27.0 points, 7.2 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game, and shot 61.1% from the field.

However, injuries have hindered Zion's progress. Due to his terrifying explosive power and such a large weight, there is inevitably a risk of injury when flying in the game. It is now the seventh season of Zion's career, but his career attendance rate is less than 50%, and he has never participated in a playoff game.

This season, Zion was injured again and only played 5 games. After the game against the Thunder, Zion was diagnosed with a grade-one hamstring strain in his left leg; the team said he will be re-evaluated in seven to 10 days and will provide further injury updates in due course. From this point of view, Zion will have to miss at least half a month to start; what is a bit funny is that as soon as Zion rested, his Pelicans immediately won their first win of the season, and now they have won two consecutive games.

From a team perspective, it doesn't matter how long it takes for Zion to come back. After all, the Pelicans are just trying to mess up this season, and there is no hope of making the playoffs. Moreover, Zion's game dominance this season does not seem to be that high. He only averaged 22.8 points, 6.8 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game. His points per game are the lowest since his rookie season.

It may be related to Zion's weight loss during the offseason this summer. Zion's weight loss was like losing the watermelon and not picking up the sesame seeds. His strength and advantage in confrontation were gone, and he couldn't even stand up to Jaylin Williams in the Thunder game. The risk of injury is still so high. He was injured after playing only a few games, and he has long become one of the representatives of crispy players in the NBA. In the summer of 2022, the Pelicans and Zion signed a five-year contract extension worth 193 million U.S. dollars, which is almost 40 million a year. I don’t know if the Pelicans regret it. In the past few years since Zion has led the team, the team’s record has been mediocre. The key is that he has not been able to play a few games himself, and it is difficult to earn tickets for the arena.

When the Pelicans introduced star-level players such as McCollum, Ingram, and Dejounte Murray, they were preparing for a better record, but in the end they could only become weak.

Last season, Zion only played 30 games, and the team owner could no longer stand it; however, according to Shamit Dua reported that many executives in the league believe that Zion's trade value is already very limited, and it may only be exchanged for junk contracts without any high-quality draft picks:

"This situation is reminiscent of Derrick Rose and Kristaps Porzingis back then - there are always teams that don't care about the player's off-court reputation, as long as they have enough information to believe that the relevant accusations will not be established and can be out of court. Reconciliation. But this type of takeover team often meets two conditions: first, there is sufficient urgency, and second, they will not pay any valuable chips. They can only get garbage contracts, and even if they are available, they will only be the late picks. For example, the trade plan may be to exchange Andrew Wiggins + Duncan Robinson + equalizing salary. "

So, brothers, do you think this is the end of Zion's ceiling?