What’s behind Zion Williamson’s newfound drive? Trust

LITTLE ELM, Texas — As Zion Williamson sits in silence, preparing for a 6 a.m. workout that’s become routine since the start of July, the echoes of a meeting from three months prior still reverberate in his mind.

The anger, regrets and hope expressed that day in suburban New Orleans led him to this small gym about 30 miles north of Dallas.

At the end of the New Orleans Pelicans’ 2023-24 season, Williamson entered the practice facility for an end-of-year sitdown with Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations David Griffin. Williamson knew this meeting would eventually come. He didn’t think it would be this soon, nor did he expect to pass by so many quiet staffers.

Williamson had played the best basketball of his career in leading the Pelicans to 49 wins for just the third time in franchise history. He appeared in a career-high 70 games and was on the verge of his first playoff game in his five-year career.

In an instant, fate snatched that moment away from him.

New Orleans had a chance to earn its playoff spot by defeating LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers in a home Play-In Tournament game. It was Williamson’s opportunity to redeem one of the lowest moments of his career: a 44-point Lakers victory in the semifinals of the In-Season Tournament in Las Vegas last December.

This time, the Pelicans star delivered a performance Pelicans fans waited five years to witness. With James and Anthony Davis fading in the fourth quarter, Williamson dominated as New Orleans erased an 18-point deficit. Williamson’s final bucket of the night — a lefty floater around Davis — gave him his 40th point and tied the score with three minutes remaining.

As the Smoothie King Center crowd rose in jubilation, Williamson grimaced and buried his head in his jersey. He had felt a tweak in his left hamstring and knew his night was over. After a quick conversation with a team trainer, Williamson slammed a towel against a seat on the bench before trudging to the locker room.

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Without Williamson, New Orleans could not complete the comeback. The Pelicans still made the playoffs without their star but were overmatched in a four-game sweep by the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder.

As Williamson walked into Griffin’s office, he felt like he had let the team down. He felt like he had let the city down. Again.

Since entering the NBA in 2019 as one of the most electric prospects in decades, Williamson has seen his career repeatedly derailed by injury. Before last season, he had played just 114 of a possible 308 games in his five-year career.

Williamson tore his meniscus before the start of his rookie season in 2019 and was placed on a minutes restriction upon returning to action. He missed the entire 2021-22 season after a series of setbacks from an offseason surgery to repair a broken foot. In 2022-23, after missing the team’s final 45 games due to a hamstring injury, Williamson said he was “physically fine” at the end of the season, prompting Griffin to clarify that Williamson had not been medically cleared to play.

It was often the response to each injury, and not the injury itself, that caused Williamson and the Pelicans to butt heads. Williamson’s camp often complained behind the scenes about how the team handled his rehab and felt the franchise held Williamson back when he was healthy enough to play. In reality, the team’s reluctance to put Williamson back on the floor was often fueled by questions about his approach to rehab and his struggles maintaining an appropriate playing weight while away from the team.

“I think a big part of it is on him,” Griffin said after the 2022-23 season. “I think there’s a lot he can do better. I think he would tell you that. He certainly owned up to that. And I think we need to do a better job of maybe examining the whole situation top to bottom a little bit better.”

That summer, Williamson was involved in trade rumors as the Pelicans sought to move up to draft eventual 2023 No. 3 pick Scoot Henderson. Though Williamson was never included in any formal trade talks, league sources told The Athletic, the fact that his name even surfaced illustrated the tension between him and his franchise.

Williamson’s tumultuous past with the organization made his disappointing finish to the 2023-24 season even more bitter. He vowed to do whatever he could to not put his team in this position again.

In response, Griffin said something that resonates with Williamson to this day. It reinforced a shift in a relationship that was once the source of great unease around the organization.

“He told me he was really proud of me. He told me he trusts me,” Williamson says in a quiet moment on the porch of the Little Elm house he rented for the summer. “He fully trusts me. There weren’t any more small doubts.”

Trust is a word on Williamson’s mind a lot lately. It’s been one of the motivating factors behind him waking up for all the early workouts.

Over the past year, Williamson realized he needed to earn trust from the organization not simply through a magical workout routine, a foolproof diet or flashes of brilliance. He had to start making the minor things a major priority.

“I want to be one of them ones. I’ve been talking about it and I’ve been making mistakes (along the way),” Williamson says. “That stuff can’t happen. It’s time to take every game personal.”

It’s fair to wonder how this proclamation differs from Williamson’s past “offseason epiphanies.” The Pelicans are used to offseason optimism ruined by another injury.

The answer, according to Williamson and numerous sources close to him and the Pelicans, lies in the word that rings in the back of his mind before every workout. After half a decade of ups and downs, Williamson and the Pelicans are finally working in unison. It’s not something Williamson ever wants to take for granted.

“It sucks that I had to go through some of that stuff, but it made me a better person,” Williamson says. “It’s what drives me to do what I’m doing now.”

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As the thoughts about his experiences over the past year begin to fade away, Williamson’s focus turns to his daily activities this summer.

Since the start of July, Williamson has begun his days at the crack of dawn, tying his shoes, changing into a different T-shirt and rising from blue bleachers to step on the old court that once was the home of Little Elm’s high school basketball team.

For more than two months, he’s started five days a week with a 6 a.m. workout at this facility. He ends those days about 10 minutes down the road, with a 7 p.m. workout at Little Elm’s new basketball gym.

Williamson’s traveling party is small. On this mid-August day, it includes his stepfather, Lee Anderson, two of his close friends who once played Division I basketball (EJ Montgomery and Greg Hammond), Damon Barnett, who coaches the boys basketball team at Little Elm High, and Pelicans assistant coach Aaron Miles.

The prominent presence of Miles, in particular, is a sign of the growing trust between Williamson and the Pelicans.

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Last summer, the team moved on from lead trainer Aaron Nelson, who gained notoriety for the injury-prevention work he did with the Phoenix Suns. A rocky relationship with Williamson and people in his camp led to Nelson’s eventual departure. The Pelicans also made key changes on the coaching staff, including moving on from Teresa Weatherspoon, the current coach of the WNBA’s Chicago Sky, who had become a confidant for Williamson.

To bolster the coaching staff, the Pelicans hired Miles, a former University of Kansas guard who previously served as an assistant coach with the Golden State Warriors and Boston Celtics. In Boston, Miles worked directly with Celtics star Jayson Tatum and played a role in his emergence as a superstar and eventual champion.

“Coach Miles is a great dude and he knows what greatness looks like,” Williamson says. “He’s been around Steph (Curry). He’s been around Klay (Thompson). He’s been around (Jayson) Tatum. He knows what it takes to be a champion.”

Miles spent a week in Little Elm during late August, making sure he attended Williamson’s twice-daily workouts. It was the first time Williamson spent extended time with a Pelicans assistant away from New Orleans working out during the offseason.

Sometimes, Miles ran the workouts while in Little Elm. Once, in a particularly exhausting sequence, Miles tasked Williamson, Hammond and Montgomery with sliding their feet from the baseline to half court while keeping a ballhandler in front of them. Then, the three players had to catch a pass, sprint into a layup and follow up with five made corner 3s. Miss two in a row, and they had to start over.

Other times, Miles helped as Anderson took command of the sessions. In this morning workout, Anderson wants to get Williamson’s competitive juices flowing.

“This is when it gets fun!” Williamson yells as he walks across the floor. “It’s almost time to flip that switch!”

After completing several dribbling drills and a few wind sprints, the 24-year-old starts playing King of the Court with Hammond and Montgomery. In this game, the three trade off in a series of individual one-on-one matchups. The first player to score seven points wins. Williamson lags early as he struggles to find his jump shot, but it soon becomes clear he is waiting for the opportune moment to strike.

“I like to build their confidence up,” Williamson says jokingly as he makes his way to the baseline. “Once one of them gets to five (points), it’s over.”

Hammond, a New Orleans native, makes the mistake of scoring his fifth point just before it was Williamson’s turn to play defense. On the next play, Williamson soars through the air and swats Hammond’s shot so hard against the wall that the ball rolls to the other side of the court. Once Williamson gets the ball back, he bullies his way into five consecutive baskets in the blink of an eye. His game-winning score comes against Montgomery on an underhand scoop shot from his waist that kisses the top of the backboard before gently dropping into the hoop.

“No way!” Montgomery exclaims in disbelief, hands above his head with a smile.

“This is what I do!” Williamson replies, pumping his fist while walking away.

After another morning workout a day later, Miles joins the group for breakfast at the Little Elm house Williamson’s agency rented for several months. While there, Miles and Williamson talk about life in New Orleans, family and their belief in a Pelicans core fortified by the addition of former Atlanta Hawks point guard Dejounte Murray. Williamson also shares Miles’ feedback on the King of the Court game.

The message: It shouldn’t have taken the two-time All-Star so long to “flip the switch” and go in for the kill.

While Miles was the key figure with the Pelicans working alongside Williamson this week, the team had at least one staff member there with Williamson for most of the two months he spent in Texas. Pelicans director of performance and sports science Daniel Bove, who worked closely with Williamson last season as the Pelicans star began to prioritize putting in extra work after practices and shootarounds, spent much of the summer in Little Elm.

Marvin Sanders, Williamson’s chef, was another key figure in the traveling party. Sanders has worked with other professional athletes such as Jaren Jackson Jr. and Hassan Whiteside. He lived with Williamson during his time in Little Elm, the same way he did the previous summer when Williamson did most of his offseason work in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Sanders, a U.S. Navy veteran, even stepped in and participated in a few workouts with Williamson when another body was needed.

Sanders’ responsibility is to whip up healthy meals so Williamson can reach his goal of entering training camp at 270 pounds. He’s been listed at 284 pounds his entire career and has a clause in his contract that requires his combined weight and body fat percentage to be no higher than 295.

During Miles’ first trip to the house for a post-workout breakfast, Sanders prepares enough food for the traveling party: scrambled eggs, grits, turkey bacon, breakfast potatoes with sauteed vegetables, salmon fried in avocado oil and smoothies made with strawberries and bananas. “Chef, if you keep throwing down like this, I might have to move in with these guys,” Miles jokes.

After finishing his meal and taking a big gulp of his smoothie, Williamson walks to the backyard for a moment to himself. While the summer heat in Texas can be unbearable, Williamson occasionally finds shade under one of his patio umbrellas and allows his mind to wander. Those moments of reflection are vital for Williamson as he attempts to prepare himself mentally for what could be the most important season of his career.

But he also understands that mapping out the future is impossible without coming to grips with some of his past failures.

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There’s a lake about 100 yards away from the Little Elm house. Some of the locals go there to fish or jet ski during their off days. Williamson prefers spending his free time out on the golf course.

But during moments when he needs peace or an opportunity to reflect, Williamson sits in the backyard and stares out at the water.

Sometimes, he relives the pivotal moments and emotions that still stick with him to this day. Even the bad ones. Especially the bad ones.

As he leans back in his deck chair, Williamson reveals the most vivid of all those memories, the low point from which his turnaround began.

He can still envision the lights in T-Mobile Arena, the walk to the court, the faces in the crowd — all of it. The memory that sticks out most is the overwhelming feeling of disgust he felt when he stepped on the floor midway through the third quarter of that semifinal against LeBron and the Lakers in Las Vegas.

“I was just looking up at the scoreboard like, ‘Damn, this isn’t us. That starts with me. I can’t be like this,’” Williamson says while shaking his head. “This s— can’t happen anymore.”

The 44-point loss — and Williamson’s lackluster 13-point performance — reignited the outside noise that has dominated Williamson’s stalled career. Much of the basketball world, including Charles Barkley and the TNT crew, eviscerated Williamson for being out of shape and failing to play with urgency in his first experience on a playoff-like stage.

Williamson heard all the familiar questions about his commitment to the Pelicans and his talent. He wanted to prove all of it was wrong.

“When rumors are floating around and all that, after a while, it does take its toll a little bit,” Williamson says. … “It was time for me to figure out a different way.”

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In the days following the loss, Griffin and other members of the Pelicans front office met with Williamson and implored him to be better. They agreed he needed to work harder, but it was deeper than that. They told Williamson that becoming the face of the franchise would require him to be more present as a teammate and leader. He needed to consistently show his greatness on the court and with his work away from the court.

For the rest of the season, Williamson focused on “stacking days” with extra workouts after practice. He made more of an effort to connect with fellow Pelicans star Brandon Ingram. Williamson was more vocal with teammates and took a more hands-on approach with the coaching staff to find solutions to issues that held the team back from contending. He developed a routine that worked for him and the team.

In the process, his relationship with his teammates, coaches and the front office improved rapidly. They started to understand one another. The work got easier with each day.

“(The In-Season Tournament loss) was definitely one of the key turning points in the season, and honestly, for me as a man in my career,” Williamson says. “I’m watching (LeBron James) out here on the court, doing what he’s doing. I’m telling myself I want to be a player that has a high level of greatness — one of the greats. In that big moment, I didn’t show up. It hit me while the game was going on. I just looked up and said, ‘I didn’t show up.’ I don’t have any excuse.”

By the end of the season, the commitment Williamson made produced noticeable results with his physique, his relationship with the organization and his performance on the court. Over his final 30 games of the regular season, he averaged 23.9 points, 6.2 rebounds and 5.5 assists while shooting 54.8 percent from the field. He also chipped in 1.3 steals and one block per game during that stretch as his effort on the defensive end picked up immensely.

“His focus, his attention to detail, his work away from the court … it’s all coming together,” Pelicans coach Willie Green said last April. “We all can see how badly he wants it. It’s been great to see his confidence grow every single day now that he’s locked in with his routine.”

Williamson recalls a conversation with Green before a pivotal game in Phoenix against the Suns, with whom the Pelicans were battling for playoff positioning. Over lunch, the Pelicans coach told Williamson he was entering a crucial point in his career. Green spoke to Williamson about the responsibilities that come with greatness and how important it is for the greats to be at their best when the toughest battles arrive.

“Me and (Green) had a great conversation,” Williamson says. “From that point on until the game, I was locked in. I was telling myself, ‘I don’t care what happens, but when we leave Phoenix, we’re leaving with a W.’”

That night, Williamson finished with 29 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists and a career-high five blocks while dominating down the stretch in a 113-105 victory.

Moments like that give Williamson and the Pelicans a great deal of conviction that the season-ending hamstring injury that may have derailed Williamson in the past will be a mere speed bump on his path to superstardom.

Following the injury and that pivotal meeting with Griffin, Williamson continues to stack days. He has been present in all team affairs, just as Griffin and others in the front office have pushed him to be for years. He sat front row at Murray’s introductory news conference after the Pelicans acquired the guard from Atlanta.

Williamson also made a point of showing up for the team’s voluntary workouts in California in late August, despite knowing he had to leave early to participate in a previously scheduled Jordan Brand event in China. It was his first time participating in one of the team’s offseason voluntary workouts.

“(I want to) learn from (Brandon Ingram). Learn from CJ (McCollum). Learn from guys who have been in the league longer than me. Paying attention to their professionalism,” Williamson says. “Not even being a good teammate, just being a good brother. So when you get on the court, your teammates believe in you. They trust your work, and they trust that you’ve got them.”

After reflecting on all the setbacks, trust issues and self-proclaimed mistakes, Williamson is asked what fans should expect from this improved version of himself heading into his sixth season.

He sits back in his chair and stares out at the water for 10 to 15 seconds. He tries to find the right words. Then, he cracks a smile:

“How can I say this the right way?”

Another pause.

“I’m out for straight vengeance,” Williamson says. “Not against any particular person. Just for myself.”

(Top photo: Cooper Neill / Getty Images. Illustration by Meech Robinson / The Athletic)