The New Orleans Pelicans and star forward Zion Williamson are nearing an agreement on a five-year rookie max contract, Shams Charania of The Athletic reports.
The deal could pay Williamson as much as $231 million and expires after the 2027-28 season.
Throughout this past season rumours circulated about Williamson's future after he missed the entire 2021-22 campaign. In response, Williamson said at the beginning of this off-season that he wanted to stay in the Big Easy.
"Of course, of course," said Williamson in late April with a big smile when asked if he'd be willing to sign an extension with the Pelicans. "I wouldn't be able to sign it fast enough."
"I can't control rumours and how people feel about certain things," he later added. "Anybody that knows me knows I wanna be here."
Now he's locked in for several years.
Without Williamson within their ranks, the Pelicans made an improbable run through the NBA play-in tournament, and gave a 64-win Phoenix Suns team a scare in Round 1, before falling 4-2 in the series.
Williamson was supposed to re-join the team at some point during the season after undergoing foot surgery last off-season, but suffered a series of setbacks throughout the year that kept him out. Despite that, Williamson said he was healthy enough to play in the playoffs, but he and the team decided not to risk it.
"From a physical standpoint, I definitely could have played," he said. "But me, my team and the front office and the team, we decided that longevity was better than trying to rush back."
In May, a month after New Orleans had been eliminated, the Pelicans announced Williamson was fully cleared to return to play. In total, the Duke product has only played 85 games since being drafted in 2019.
Heading into next season, Williamson will join a revamped Pelicans squad with a matured Brandon Ingram, a new acquisition in CJ McCollum, big man Jonas Valanciunas and sophomore Herb Jones.
