Zion Williams finally made his NBA regular-season debut on Wednesday night and it didn’t take long for ESPN’s Mark Jackson to question the size of Williamson’s body.
In fact, it happened under four minutes into the game.
Williamson has been out all season with a right knee injury. He started against the San Antonio Spurs in his debut and is expected to play short bursts of time as he works his way into the lineup.
He was subbed out before the 4-mintue mark and Jackson, who is easily one of the most dreadful announcers calling NBA games these days, questioned his weight and said he needed to drop some pounds. ESPN even showed a wild graphic about Zion’s weight:
WOW. @espn really posted Zion’s weight like it’s a stat….. 🙄🙄🙄 pic.twitter.com/kJkjhvdfhC
— Austin Griffin (@AustinGriffin37) January 23, 2020
Jackson also said he’d take Ja Morant over Williamson in the draft if they could re-do it all over again.
This was after just 4 MINUTES OF PLAYING TIME FOR ZION.
Fans rightly ripped Jackson, as well as Jeff Van Gundy, who added to the miserableness of this broadcast:
Zion if you see this, don't listen to Mark Jackson. We think you look just terrific. #BodyPositivity
— #RingerNBA (@ringernba) January 23, 2020
Why are ratings down, we ask as Mark Jackson complains about Zion’s body.
— Greg (@gwiss) January 23, 2020
Zion has played 4 minutes and Mark Jackson has already called him out of shape and said he'd rather have Ja Morant
— Jonathan Wasserman (@NBADraftWass) January 23, 2020
These two telling Zion he needs to lose weight is laughable. He’s 285 and has a 45 inch vert, ESPN is borderline unwatchable. pic.twitter.com/XWitkgQGS5
— Charlie Eubank (@grant_eubank) January 23, 2020
How Zion Williamson looks vs how Mark Jackson thinks he looks pic.twitter.com/EV3NMz8I2w
— Tyler Conway (@jtylerconway) January 23, 2020
can't get over how Mark Jackson has responded to days of ESPN hype for this game by saying that Zion is fat and that he would take Ja Morant over him in the first quarter after Zion played four minutes
— Matt Carey (@RealMattCarey) January 23, 2020
Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson making wild assumptions about Zion Williamson’s health and strength right now… pic.twitter.com/C1NTMVHG7z
— Pelican Debrief (@PelicanDebrief) January 23, 2020
God this ESPN broadcast team is insufferable. Can we try talking about something besides Zion's weight and how Morant is clearly the better player?
— James Tabor (@AllAboutSaints9) January 23, 2020
Should’ve let Doris do play-by-play for this game.
Mark Jackson and JVG gonna spend the next 3 quarters body-shaming Zion pic.twitter.com/pzoZ9w31E2
— Meredith Minkow (@murrminks) January 23, 2020
For the people not in the blender, games on FSNOLA, save yourself from Mark jackson rambling and JVG ranting.
— Ryan Hebert (@RyanHebert89) January 23, 2020
Listening to Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson lecture Zion Williamson on how to become a better athlete is truly incredible
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) January 23, 2020
5 minutes in, Mark Jackson & Jeff Van Gundy are already sucking the fun out of #ZionDay 🙄 pic.twitter.com/M0KeTjQWya
— ohNoPauldidnt 🧢🇺🇲🇵🇷 (@ohnopauldidnt) January 23, 2020
So far this game has consisted of Zion getting tired after 90 seconds, Mark Jackson And JVG fat shaming him and Jackson saying he might be a bust. https://t.co/Nh80Z5Jg9U
— Connor Brown (@DTNBKUP608) January 23, 2020
On @Zionwilliamson “I haven’t seen him before in person but I can tell you…he needs to be in better shape” – Mark Jackson after 2 min @NBA @ESPNNBA
— Bill C… (@Fatbabies76) January 23, 2020
Zion scores his first basket and Mark Jackson finds a way to talk about himself.
— Leigh Ellis (@LeighEllis) January 23, 2020
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