NEW ORLEANS — Zion Williamson is a Lamborghini and needs to treat his body as such.
That was New Orleans Pelicans forward Larry Nance’s message to his star teammate as Williamson prepares to return to the court for the 2022-23 season after a long injury layoff.
“You don’t put the cheapest gas in a Lambo, you know?” Nance said at Pelicans media day on Monday. “You go to the pump and you put the 93 to 95, whatever that is, you put that in there cause you don’t want to be on the highway driving and hear your engine. No, you don’t want that.”
Williamson missed all of last season with a broken right foot. A year ago at Pelicans media day, the team announced the injury and it seemed like Williamson wouldn’t miss much of the regular season if any games at all. Instead, Williamson suffered numerous setbacks and never was able to step foot on the court.
This year’s media day was different, however. Williamson was all smiles all day.
“I feel like I’m at my best right now,” Williamson said. “I feel like I’m moving faster, jumping higher. I feel great.”
Williamson hasn’t played in an NBA game since May 4, 2021, when he suffered a fractured finger that prematurely ended the 2020-21 season.
“That’s a long time without playing a game, but my excitement level is through the roof,” Williamson said. “I’m just ready to get back on the court.”
Since then, he’s hired a personal strength and conditioning coach and hired a chef as part of steps he’s taken to get his body ready to get back on the court. Williamson spent some of the past month in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, preparing for the season.
“I’ve always been a closed-off guy. It’s just how I am,” Williamson said. “That’s how I was as a kid, but finding that team, putting it together, work didn’t feel like work. It was having fun and just doing what I love. The process when I was in Fort Lauderdale was that you were getting up early, but after like a week and a half of it, it didn’t even feel like getting up at 4:30 or 5. It didn’t feel like that. No, it just felt like I’m just about to go to the gym, put in some work.”
Williamson said he listened to veterans such as Nance, CJ McCollum and Garrett Temple about how he should take care of his body. Williamson recalled some moments from this summer when he knew their advice — along with the work he was putting in — was paying off.
“It’s one of those feelings where I’m in the gym and something happens and I’m like, ‘Oh, man, I can really do that….
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