As the season progresses, the competition between NBA teams has become more and more intense, especially in the West, with the return of the "waist king" Morant, the lore + two consecutive wins to attack the playoffs. At the same time, there are also a lot of shocking news outside the court, according to NBA authoritative reporters, the Pelicans' champion Lang, the popular "fried chicken" Zion, ushered in an extremely unfavorable news. Because he only played 29 games last season and missed more than 22 games, he directly triggered the salary clause in his contract, which is 12.6 billion will be completely unsecured.
That is to say, three years 1The $2.6 billion contract may become a piece of waste paper if you are not careful, and it is really embarrassing to work hard for three years but not get a penny. Even worse, if Zion misses more games this season than the required number of games, the guaranteed salary for the 2024 25 season will be reduced accordingly. What could have been three seasons in 2025 28 is now in jeopardy for next season.
Although this is quite embarrassing for Zion, and may even be a little unfair, it is clear that the Pelicans are preparing for a rainy day, after all, they have missed many games due to injury before, and their physical condition is even more worrying, so it is understandable to sign this kind of contract. In the worst-case scenario, the Pelicans could theoretically cut Zion after the '24-25 season and have no impact on the team's salary structure, but that's only in the worst case scenario.
Zion fans will certainly be unhappy with this not-so-"fair" contract, but for the player himself, there are plenty of opportunities to earn the money into his own hands. Because in the contract signed with the team, it has been clearly stipulated that Zion can meet the team's requirements in terms of more games, or weight, and the three-year contract can become fully guaranteed2.6 billion can be properly taken into your hands.
Last offseason, Zion signed an early contract extension with the Pelicans for a five-year contractThe 9.7 billion maximum salary began to take effect this season. However, because of Zion's previous injury problems, the Pelicans showed the attitude of "being bitten by a snake for 10 years and afraid of the well rope for 10 years", and the details of the contract signed with Zion were extremely complicated, and it could even be said that every word was cut. For example, the guaranteed salary in the contract is directly tied to the number of appearances Zion makes each season, so as to prevent Zion from "lying" on the bench and taking the team's money, after all, the Pelicans have suffered many losses during the rookie contract.
In addition to the required number of appearances, the contract also clearly stipulates that Zion's weight must also be controlled, and the sum of weight and body fat percentage must be less than 295. For example, Zion's weight last season was 285 pounds, which means that the body fat percentage must not exceed 10%, otherwise the salary in the contract will become insecure, which is obviously not easy for Zion, who is overweight. Although it seems that the contract is a bit harsh, this can give the team the greatest protection, so as not to spend hundreds of millions of salaries in vain, but sign the highest salary player who can only sit on the bench and watch the game.
So far this season, Zion has played 23 games, missing 5 games, and it is not known how many games there is still a gap in the required number of missed games, but the conflict between Zion and the team has not eased. It has been reported that Zion and his team have refused to listen to the team's advice, such as improving their diet and improving their fitness. But now that it's directly linked to his salary, I wonder if Zion will change his mind because of this?You must know that Zion's actions to do whatever he wants have long caused dissatisfaction among many celebrities, after all, the body alarm has sounded many times, and he has contributed little to the team, and if he does not improve, he may really be labeled as a parallel import.