Stephen A. Smith Calls Zion Williamson a 'Bust' After Pelicans Rule Him Out for the Season

Stephen A. Smith has labeled Zion Williamson a bust for his lack of availability on the court for the New Orleans Pelicans.

On Tuesday's episode of First Take, Smith expressed his feelings about the Pelicans announcing Williamson was done for the season due to a lower back contusion suffered last month. According to Smith, the No. 1 draft pick in the 2019 NBA Draft has the caliber to be a true star in the league, but he's a "bust" since his team can't rely on him being available due to his history of missing games.

"I feel very, very bad for the Pelicans and the city of New Orleans," said Smith. "Zion Williamson is a star-caliber talent. When he's on the court and healthy, he's a monster. The problem is he's rarely available. And as great as he is, the word 'bust' comes to mind. Not because of his talent, I'm only talking about his availability. If you're not available, it doesn't matter how great you are. And he's almost never available."

Smith added that the Pelicans would have trouble trading Williamson because no team would want to deal with his lack of availability. Williamson has played in only 30 games this season but averaged 24.6 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 5.3 assists. Out of 214 career appearances, Zion has only seen the court for 45.3 percent of the time since being drafted by the Pelicans in 2019.

In addition to Zion being put on the shelf, the Pelicans have ruled CJ McCollum for the rest of the season as well. The Pelicans had a rough season this year as they went through 41 different starting lineups with injuries to several players, including Dejounte Murray and Herbert Jones.