The Pelicans suspended Williamson for Friday's game with the Philadelphia 76ers after he showed up significantly late for the team's flight on Thursday. Williamson apologized to his teammates and to owner Gayle Benson, releasing a statement that said in part:

New Orleans Pelicans star Zion Williamson has been making headlines for all the wrong reasons this NBA season. Things reached a new low last week when he was suspended by the team. It was reported by ESPN that Williamson showed up late to a team flight to Philadelphia.

Three days after New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson produced a highly encouraging performance in his first game back from a two-month injury absence on Tuesday night, the 2018-19 Duke basketball forward sat out a second straight outing.

Williamson has only just returned for New Orleans from an injury absence but won’t play against Philadelphia for a different reason.

On a recent episode of First Take, Stephen A. Smith claimed that Zion Williamson wants to be with Los Angeles and New York.

Zion Williamson seems to want out of New Orleans, at least according to Stephen A. Smith. The ESPN talking head declared that the Pelicans star no longer wanted to be part of the organization during an episode of “First Take” on Monday.

ESPN host Stephen A. Smith is convinced that Zion Williamson wants to move on to a top-market NBA franchise as soon as possible.