​As much intrigue as Zion Williamson holds for his athletic tools, his question marks spark just as much debate. At a height of 6’7” and weighing 285 pounds Zion’s measurements cause real concern about his non traditional proportions.
Although not obese to our knowledge his BMI of 32 puts him in that range. Let’s take a look at some of the high BMI and high weight risk factors and the research on how much more prevalent injuries become.
 
A study in the American Journal of Medicine showed a potential link between obesity or high weight and a higher prevalence of injuries. This includes anything relatively minor for sake of context. In another study it was shown shin splints and ankle sprains were more common to anyone with a high weight and or BMI. 
My bigger concern however are Zion’s knees his dependence on his athleticism means a knee injury would be devastating. Your anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is a key stabilizer of your knee and guides your tibia (shin bone) through a normal, stable range of motion. 
The ACL is a broad, thick cord the size of your index finger with long collagen strands woven together in a way that allows it to withstand up to 500lbs of force.
 
 
A study in the Oxford journal of medicine shows that high weight can contribute to osteoarthritis a type of arthritis caused by heavy use of the joints and commonly seen in your 30’s. As far ligament damage ligament sprains seem to be more prevalent but could an ACL tear be more likely? Let’s keep digging.
 
Some risk factors that make ACL tears more prevalent are genetics, anatomy which can include weight and proportion, being female or obese. Zion is not female that we know of. Genetics definitely does play a role but for the purpose of this we don’t know Zion’s genetic profile.
 
It would seem his weight, proportions and the process of cutting, running and the strain playing basketball mean Zion is at a higher risk of an ACL tear. Zion’s weight is heavier than you would like for his height and it would seem increases his risk of a potential ACL tear.
 
We see a fairly strong chance Zion is injury prone. What do you think? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Update:
Zion Williamson suffered a knee injury before the season started. Zion Williamson was initially given a window of six-to-eight weeks to return from a torn right lateral meniscus. It has now been eight weeks since Williamson's surgery, though, and the rookie does not appear close to making his NBA debut.  This injury could be a sign that an ACL injury is more likely for Zion. 
​These are among the reasons we believe Zion Williamson will be injury prone.

Very few players at 6 foot 8 and 280 pounds would possess Zion Williamson's athletic gifts.
However Williamson has some real question marks that few are talking about.

Height
At 6"8' Zion is undersized for the PF position. However you could argue his physical stature lends some compensation for this.

Periemeter Game
Zion is a terrible jumpshooter currently shooting 25% at Duke and even worse in highschool.
He lacks the advanced handle to take G's and Wing's off the dribble from the perimeter meaning his only offensive advantage is against other bigs who already have a height advantage.

Handle

Zion has a fairly basic handle lacking in advanced dribble moves. He won't be able to bully defenders at the next level.

Against Auburn and Gonzaga Zion struggled at times against NBA caliber length and pro level talent.
In the NBA Zion Williamson will struggle to live up to his physical gifts unless he shows substantial growth in skill.

I see Zion Williamson as a waste of a top 5 pick and likely only a rotational bench scorer in the NBA.

Without a high level of growth I think there is a real chance Williamson doesn't finish his rookie contract.

We are confident Zion Williamson will be a bust. Are you?

​Zion Lateef Williamson (born July 6, 2000) is an American professional basketball player for the New Orleans Pelicans of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He plays the power forward position. Following a dominant freshman-year stint with the Duke Blue Devils, Williamson was selected by the New Orleans Pelicans with the first overall pick in the 2019 NBA draft. He was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team in 2020.
Born in Salisbury, North Carolina, Williamson attended Spartanburg Day School, where he was a consensus five-star recruit and was ranked among the top five players in the 2018 class. He led his team to three straight state championships and earned South Carolina Mr. Basketball recognition in his senior season. Williamson also left high school as a McDonald's All-American, runner-up for Mr. Basketball USA, and USA Today All-USA first team honoree. In high school, he drew national attention for his slam dunks.
In his freshman and only season with Duke, Williamson was named ACC Player of the Year, ACC Athlete of the Year and ACC Rookie of the Year. He set the single-game school scoring record for freshmen in January 2019, claimed ACC Rookie of the Week accolades five times, earned AP Player of the Year, Sporting News College Player of the Year recognition, and won the Wayman Tisdale Award.
 
Zion is known as an explosive dunker his height leaves some room to be desired and his weight is a bit more than you would like on his frame. Zion has a height of 6’7” and weight of 284 pounds. There have been concerns about his unusual build making him more injury prone. Many analysts have compared him to Charles Barkley, Lebron James and Julius Randle.
 

• Zion Williamson’s current stats are
• 25.5 points
• REB

7.2

• AST

3.4

• PER

26.96
for this season.