Zion Williamson showed up to New Orleans Pelicans media day on Tuesday looking notably slim and making bold statements about his fitness, but he has more to do to convince most observers.
Williamson raved about how good he feels heading into camp after dropping weight during the offseason. He even went as far as to say that he has not felt as good as he does now since he was in college at Duke.
“It feels good to feel good,” Williamson said. “I haven’t felt like this since college, high school. I walk in the gym and I’m like, I feel good.”
"I haven't felt like this since college."
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) September 23, 2025
Zion says he’s back to feeling like Duke Zion after boxing and football workouts this summer 💯🔥
(Via @PelicansNBA) pic.twitter.com/6l1K6s8VFH
Despite Williamson’s optimism, everyone else was pretty skeptical that the Pelicans star’s newfound passion for fitness will last once the season starts.
Scheduled tweet on par with Ben Simmons open gym shooting
— TheGamelineGuru (@Gamelineguru) September 23, 2025
Give it three months and he’ll already be fat
— Depressed Celtics Fan (@Banner19otw) September 23, 2025
He said this last year
— Baby Bull (@BTCBabyBull) September 23, 2025
Doesn’t bro say this every year
— M.O.E. (@keepitreal_4L) September 23, 2025
The skeptics have good reason to not want to take Williamson at his words regarding his longtime weight issues. He looked like he had slimmed down before last season as well, but injuries, particularly a hamstring issue, still limited him to just 30 games in 2024-25.
The 25-year-old Williamson has struggled with weight and conditioning all throughout his NBA career. Officially listed at 284 pounds, Williamson even has clauses in his contract with the Pelicans that involve meeting certain benchmarks for weight and body fat percentage (read the details here).
Williamson indicated he has done things like take up boxing this offseason in order to maintain his fitness. However, offseason photos have not been quite as encouraging. The important thing is that Williamson feels good, but until he can stay healthy and produce at a high level, nobody is going to believe that his weight problems are behind him.
