New Orleans Pelicans Superstar Named a Top-30 NBA Player Entering Regular Season

The New Orleans Pelicans are no strangers to having star players on their roster.

With a roster that includes household names like CJ McCollum, Dejounte Murray, Brandon Ingram, and Herb Jones, the star power goes on and on.

While those four men are stars in their own right, none of them shine as bright as superstar forward Zion Williamson.

Williamson made a name for himself in college by being the biggest and strongest man on the court on a nightly basis.

While he may not be the biggest man in the NBA, no one can question how strong he is, and he still shows that power when he backs down the biggest of big men regularly.

Williamson has been so good throughout his NBA career to this point, when healthy, that ESPN ranked him 27th in their top 100 NBA players rankings entering the 2024-25 season, 30 spots higher than he was ranked ahead of last year.

"Williamson rose 30 spots thanks to his availability this season," writes Michael Wright of ESPN, "that allowed the former No. 1 pick the ability to consistently showcase his electric skill set."

The best ability is availability, and Williamson showed more of that in the 2023-24 campaign than he has in any other year throughout his NBA tenure.

Playing in a career-high 70 games, Williamson scored 22.9 points on 57.0 percent shooting with 5.8 rebounds and 0.7 blocks across 31.5 minutes.

But, wait!

There's more!

The Pelicans just added Murray to the roster this offseason, a true point guard capable of facilitating the offense, something that the team has not had since Lonzo Ball in 2020-21.

With a true point guard handling the facilitating, Williamson can now focus more on his scoring opportunities, getting away from defenders, and finding open lanes to drive to the basket and throw down monster jams.

That is, assuming the big man stays healthy.

While it is a legitimate concern, Williamson has worked hard on his durability with workouts twice a day and cutting weight to 260 pounds this offseason, which should theoretically have him in a much better position to remain healthy down the stretch.

Williamson remaining healthy down the stretch is something that New Orleans will need this year, as with the improvements that they have made to their roster, they have more than an outside opportunity of surpassing their 49-33 record from last season, and making their second consecutive playoff appearance and third in the last five years.

It is shaping up to be a promising season for the Pelicans, and ESPN's 27th-ranked player is sure to play a big part in it.