According to the report, the Pelicans could theoretically be cut after the 2024-25 seasonZion Williamson, getting rid of his 12.7 billion, otherwise the team will have to give him a total of 19.7 billion. With more than 22 games missed last season — Williamson played just 29 — he triggered a clause that changed wages from guaranteed to non-guaranteed for 2025-26, 2026-27 and 2027-28. At any point in the final seasons, the Pelicans could have a chance to cut him and save some money.
Does this clause make it very likely for the Pelicans to cut him?If it's a regular case, it's not very likely. While this provision provides the Pelicans with a safety net against the risk of devastating injuries or a precipitous drop in performance, in most of the most realistic scenarios, such an outcome is unlikely. For example, Zion would need to be a lot worse than his slightly disappointing performance in the first 23 games of the 2023-24 season before the team could cut his option to become a reality.
Before we move on, let's take a look back. Zion's contract probably has the most complex contractual safeguards currently disclosed. While other contract extensions with maximum salary will include a contract structure with injury protection and contract protection, these clauses are more like a plan for the worst-case scenario. However, Zion's contract completely exceeds for exampleEmbiidorMichael PorterThe complexity of the contract. Embiid's and Porter's contracts seem to be more of a relief for the owner than a real opportunity for the team to cut two players in other situations other than a devastating injury.
But Zion's contract does have some of these attributes — if he has a fracture or stress injury in his right foot fifth metatarsal or other healed tissue, or if, as his contract says, he has suffered a "hardware damage" in the area of his previous injury, then half of his base annual salary for the 2024-25 season would not be guaranteed if the team cut him. However, the more restrictive part of the contract is the control of the number of matches he plays and his weight.
In addition, the amount of the benefit may go in different directions at different times. This contract becomes unguaranteed at some points and then back at others, and the contract coverage for the last few years is based on earlier seasons. Probably this is a contract clause that has never been seen before.
This contract allows Zion to earn a large portion of the 2025-26 season with relative ease. He only needs to lose weight and play half of the 2024-25 season to get enough of the guaranteed amount to make it completely unrealistic for the team to cut him in the 2025 offseason. The only way for the Pelicans to get a head start is to cut him sooner, but that would have to eat up his guaranteed amount for the 2024-25 season, and by the way, the team would be throwing away their best players. It's definitely not going to happen
However, let's assume that Zion didn't play 41 games in the 2024-25 season and his weight test was not up to par, then his 2025-26 season is completely unguaranteed. But even then, the Pelicans' options are more limited than they seem.
First of all, it's clear: if a team lays off a star player, there is no way to automatically get another star player to replace him. Although the Pelicans can allow themselves to completely rebuild the roster in 2025 — by thenIngramThe contract also expiredMichaelumhas a year left on their early contract extension – but the reality is that they may need to completely rebuild and spend at least a few years in placePiston-level pendulum rottensituation. Cutting Zion's salary space is most likely to be spent on "eating up Bullock's contract and a swap right to a protected first-round pick." That's when it was really "interesting".
Unless one of their younger players becomes a star – the Pelicans have some interesting young talent, but no one has yet shown the possibility of playing the top two on a semi-qualifying team – and the Pelicans are likely to continue to rot until the lottery draw gods smile at them again.
Other factors are also against the team cutting Zion. He will enter his 25-year-old season in 2025, a time when most players are just entering their prime. But yes, given the weight loss issues that plagued him early in his career, and the fact that he didn't make much progress since he reached the All-Star at 20, the description "most players" may not apply to him.
Even so, even if his performance over the next 18 months falls short of the team's expectations, his growth timeline could still be worth keeping him. Keeping him in the summer of 2025 — roughly the equivalent of a year left on his contract plus a two-year team option — could still be better than anything else the Pelicans do with that money.
Finally, there is the small question of transaction value. One of the reasons the Pelicans are reluctant to cut Zion is that if things don't go well, it's easier for the team to send him away. While many teams will back down from his weight management and injury issues and therefore won't send All-Stars of a similar caliber like this regular trade, the bar for such a trade to get the Pelicans back in exchange is low, given that the team will have zero return from cutting Zion. In addition, the non-guarantee of the contract in the last few years has made his contract tradable soar. Any team that gets him will know that they have been given some security against the negativity of this contract.
In fact, there's the ultimate irony: In the worst-case scenario, if the Pelicans do get to the point where cutting Zion is better for the team, it seems unlikely that cutting him at this point is unlikely.
For example, if it becomes likely that the 2025-26 season will not be triggered, the Pelicans could have sent him away at the February 2025 trade deadline in exchange for a future contract, as Zion could be considered the league's largest expiring contract at the time. The Pelicans can trade in draft pick assets or young men — like one of the three first-round picks they could have in 2025 — to get another star back and give the Pelicans a quick shot.
If the future doesn't go well, the Pelicans may have more reason to think about getting out of his final year or two-year contract, but that part of the contract is still years away. There is still a lot that could change for the pelicans between now and that point in time.
The first deadline to consider is July 15, 2025, which will determine whether Zion triggers the contract guarantee next season. While the possibility of the Pelicans cutting him is more open for discussion than all other max contracts in recent years, the outlook is still a low-probability event. In fact, the real value of this contract isn't giving the Pelicans a chance to cut Zion — it's about giving Zion the motivation to go and play as much as possible.