There’s been a lot of turnover in the NBA recently. Teams like the Grizzlies, the Denver Nuggets, and the like have all fired their head coaches. Some did it late, right before the regular season ended. On the other hand, some teams like the Phoenix Suns and now the New Orleans Pelicans have shaken things up massively. And this shakeup has a lot to do with troubled star, Zion Wililiason. But things might not be getting better for them anytime soon.

Recently, Stephen A. Smith was joined on his YouTube channel by his First Take colleague, Brian Windhorst. Early during Windy’s latest appearance on the Stephen A. Smith Show, the infamous host brought up the fact that the Pelicans had fired their head of basketball operations, David Griffin. And Stephen A. revealed whom he blamed for the firing,

“I blame obviously Zion Williamson from the standpoint of his lack of availability… He arrived in the 2019/2020 season. He’s played 30 games or less in four of them. He missed the entire 2021 2022 season. All right, we know that due to his injuries, but he played 24 games as a rookie, 29 games the year after, missing the entire season in 2022/2023. And then this year he’s only played 30 games. Lack of availability. Bottom line: I think if he’s available, he’s a career 24-point per game scorer. So I think if he’s available, David Griffin probably still has his job,” rattled off the divisive host.

While Smith has some takes that may divide the fanbase, this one seems much more agreeable. The Pelicans had pinned a lot of their hopes on Zion Williamson becoming a franchise player. And that may indeed be where things got out of control for them.

After all, Zion has had his fair share of troubles on and off the court. The Pelicans suspended him this year and stripped him of some of the guaranteed amounts on his contract. Then, Zion turned a corner, only to go down with another injury.

And this is why Brian Windhorst agreed that the failure of the Zion Williamson experiment was ultimately what led to David Griffin’s firing. But Windy also revealed why the Pelicans weren’t out of the woods just yet.

Brian Windhorst reveals why investing in Zion Williamson may continue to cost the Pelicans despite David Griffin being gone

You see, when we talk about the Zion Williamson experiment, we’re not just talking about Zion himself. The Pelicans, under David Griffin’s leadership, went all in on the 24-year-old. That meant they built the team around him, making trades they believed would complement him the best. According to Windy, this may be what spells trouble for them in the years to come.

“But ultimately, David Griffin built a team around him [Zion]…If you were David Griffin’s agent, you would say, well, ‘How do you fairly assess a player who’s always injured?’ But they did do a couple of things around him that didn’t work. Number one, they traded for DeJounte Murray this year. They paid up a pretty penny for DeJounte Murray. Now he tore his Achilles, but before he tore his Achilles, it was not going well,” Windy said, pretty much pointing out it was Griffin’s first mistake.

He then brought up the acquisition of CJ McCollum.

He called CJ a “quality player” before making it clear that he hadn’t really made a difference in the Pelicans’ fortunes. Well, apart from his signing, driving a rift between them, and according to Windy, “the relationship they have with Brandon Ingram, who was a core player for them, went South. He wanted out of there. And they ended up having to trade him. The return on that trade is not ideal.”

Finally, Windhorst revealed that it ultimately came down to the lack of consistent quality on display by the Pelicans. “The direction of the talent inflow and the talent outflow, what was thriving there and what was not thriving, was not ideal. There were these brief flashes over the last couple of years where the Pelicans were all together, and they looked really good. And there was these stretches where you said, ‘Oh, now I see the vision.’ But those didn’t last,” said the ESPN reporter.

Trading for DeJounte Murray and CJ McCollum wasn’t the brightest idea. Murray only played 31 games for them before the aforementioned injury. And a squad with Zion definitely doesn’t need another player who plays around 30 games a season. Moreover, despite CJ actually getting over 20 points per game consistently, those points are yet to lead to something for the Pelicans.

Ultimately, it was a culmination of several mistakes and poor foresight from David Griffin that troubled the Pelicans this year. With the abovementioned players remaining at the Pelicans for a while to come, it seems their woes are here to stay. But what do you think? Will a new head of basketball operations be the Pelicans’ saving grace? Or will Zion Williamson’s return from injury stick this time around? We can’t wait to hear what you think!