Zion Williamson fired management in part because he hasn't been traded to Knicks?

There are rumors that Zion Williamson moved on from his management team in part because he wanted to be a New York Knick and they failed to make that happen.

When Zion Williamson entered the league during the 2019 NBA Draft, there were many assumed that he was going to emerge as the NBA's next big thing. After all, he had dominated the high school and college scene, no matter the circumstance. It was only natural that Zion would continue on that path as he made the jump to the NBA level. However, Zion's start to his career in the NBA has been everything but that.

Have there been times when Zion has looked dominant in the NBA? Absolutely. Especially when he's been healthy, Zion has the look and talent of a player who should be dominating more. However, more often than not, Zion is either injured, out of shape, or not on the same page as the rest of his team. And it's caused his career to be pretty underwhelming.

The most recent development on the Zion front is that he's decided to part ways with his management team, CAA. While there are likely many factors at play for such a decision, there are whispers that at least part of the reason he decided to ditch CAA is because he expected them to push harder for a pathway toward him landing in New York (at the NBA Draft or via trade). That has not happened and it would seem as if that was at least part of Zion's frustrations with the management team.

Zion has long desired to play in New York

Dating back to the weeks leading up to the 2019 NBA Draft, it was the worst-kept secret in the world that Zion wanted to find a way to play for the Knicks. Unfortunately, it was the New Orleans Pelicans and not the Knicks that would end up winning the 2019 draft lottery. But this report, if true, does seem to add credence to the idea that Zion still believed the management could push for him to be traded to New York. That never happened.

Could his injury history have played a big factor in that? Absolutely. After all, even if the management team did push the Pelicans to trade him, what are the odds that New York would've wanted to invest greatly in a big man who struggled to remain healthy? It's probably not high. Nevertheless, it still would seem as if Zion expected more out of CAA over the past few years.

As the Pelicans find themselves in a bit of an early-season disaster, with Zion sidelined due to injury again, it will be interesting to see what the next move is for both sides. At this point, New Orleans has to be thinking about the possibility of a new rebuild while Zion may be ready for a fresh start at this point in his career.