Explaining why the Zion Williamson and CAA breakup is linked to the Knicks

If something happened between Zion and CAA, it would inevitably be linked to the Knicks.

Zion Williamson’s decision to cut ties with the Creative Artists Agency (CAA) caught everybody by surprise when it was first reported by Sam Amick and Joe Vardon of The Athletic late on Friday. Still, the details that came afterward are what truly raised a few eyebrows.

According to Kris Pursianen of ClutchPoints, echoing information shared by sources feeding him, the breakup in relationships was related to 1) the failure of CAA to send Zion to New York and the Knicks, as well as 2) the strong health-related clauses tied to the contract extension he signed with the New Orleans Pelicans in 2022 which are inevitably going to cut his earnings and leverage short.

“After beginning his career in New Orleans, Williamson expected more from his representation in regards to pursuing a trade to New York. This was one of the two driving factors that resulted in the split, source said.

“Aside from his connection to the Knicks, Williamson’s contract was another element in the deterioration of the relationship between the two sides.” — Kris Pursianen

Williamson has been linked to the Knicks probably since he was in high school because of the hype he carried with him into college, the Knicks dark years at the end of last decade putting him in position to land a top-3 pick in the 2019 draft, and welp, Knicks for Clicks.

All of that went south when New York landed exactly on the no. 3 spot during the draft lottery, missing on both Zion Williamson (no. 1 to the Pelicans) and Ja Morant (no. 2 to the Memphis Grizzlies) having to do with selecting Zion’s teammate at Duke and consensus no. 1 prospect in the 2018 HS class RJ Barrett.

Since then, Zion’s name has often been tied to the Knicks in trade speculation, and that burning desire has now been revealed to be one of the main reasons for Zion to part ways with CAA, the agency once led by current Knicks president Leon Rose.

According to Pursianen, Zion had informed CAA he wanted to land in New York at some point via trade after failing to get there on draft night. That never came to happen in the following five seasons, helping Zion make his decision to break his relationship with CAA.

On top of that, Pursianen revealed that Williamson has realized of late how incredibly limiting—for his good—the clauses present in his current contract with the Pelicans are, one he initially signed in January 2022.

“Williamson has gained a greater understanding of how his contract was structured and the various clauses involving his weight that make said deal not fully guaranteed moving forward.

“Both the agency’s perceived inability to land the forward in New York City, as well as Williamson’s understanding of his contract situation, pushed the relationship to the point where the parties felt a divorce was the best resolution.” — Kris Pursianen

Pursianen couldn’t point to the precise moment when the relationship broke once and for all, writing, “The exact timeline of how specifically the split happened is not clear at this immediate moment,” and it’s been nearly three years since Zion inked his new contract.

At the time of that agreement in Jan. 2022, one worth $197 million over five years (beginning in the 2023-24 season), Zion was sidelined and missed the full 2021-22 season. He had played just 85 games before singing his extension in the two prior campaigns, although he was coming off an All-Star year in 2021 during his sophomore season.

The Pelicans didn’t want to sign Zion just for the sake of his teenage pedigree and wanted to be as cautious as possible given the man’s health issues, so they added as many weight and availability clauses to his deal as possible.

According to The Athletic, “the final three years of the contract are not guaranteed because Williamson only played in 29 games in 2022-23,” which in turn triggered a clause that gave the Pelicans “flexibility with him.”

In all honesty, it’s rather baffling to discover Zion just recently “gained a greater understanding” of everything baked into his deal, as Pursianen worded it, with the details reported by The Athletic’s Mike Vorkunov.

• 20% percent of his salary for next season will become guaranteed if he passes all six of his weigh-in checkpoints this season (his weight and body percentage must be less than 295)
• Another 40% becomes guaranteed if he plays in at least 41 games and an additional 20 % if he plays in at least 51.
• The final 20% gets guaranteed again if Williamson plays in at least 61 games. Williamson has missed 11 of a possible 17 games so far.
• Williamson can re-guarantee portions of his salary for the 2026-27 and 2027-28 seasons by hitting the same milestones next year and the year after.
• There are also several vesting dates in the deal that tie the team and the player together.

Zion’s 2024-25 salary of $39.5 million is partially contingent on health and weight benchmarks. For the 2025-26 season, approximately 80% of his $43.8 million salary depends on games played during the previous year.

• Williamson’s contract for the 2025-26 salary is 100% protected so long as he’s not waived on or before July 15, 2025.

Obviously, as The Athletic points out, it is “highly unlikely” the Pelicans will simply cut Zion Williamson next summer to get rid of his contract and the headaches it might bring to New Orleans’ table.

When healthy, nobody is stopping Zion. He’s a two-time All-Star and he’s missed more games than he’s appeared in. He boasts career averages of 24.6 PPG, 6.6 RPG, 4.2 APG, 1.0 SPG, and 0.6 BPG shooting 58.7/34.1/69.4 splits.

The links between CAA and the Knicks run deep, yes, or rather ran deep. That’s no longer the case, and even if Zion tried to engineer his way to Manhattan taking advantage of the CAA-Rose-Knicks relationship, it’s not a given he was ever going to get there with Rose having transitioned to a full-time role in New York leaving CAA behind.

Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, OG Anunoby, and Karl-Anthony Towns are part of the CAA squad. Julius Randle is under the CAA umbrella too.

Was Zion ever going to brute-force his way to New York simply because his representation had links (whatever those are worth) to NYK? Improbable. Has Zion closed the door to a future donning the Orange & Blue? Questionable.

For what it’s worth, Zion is now without representation and league rules prevent him from signing with a new agency for 15 days after ending his relationship with CAA. He’s under contract (guaranteed or not) through the 2027-28 season when, if all goes according to plan, he’ll bag $44.9 million before entering unrestricted free agency.

For New York and a bunch of Knicks fanatics, the idea of acquiring the former Dukie is and has always been tantalizing.

If all of this dramatic saga ends up with Williamson eventually becoming available on the cheap, whether that’s via trade or free agency, nobody with ties to the Knicks would mind trying to land him as a reclamation project worth investing in.

But also, if all of this dramatic saga ends up with Williamson eventually becoming available on the cheap, let alone “for free” after being cut on the spot come July, then something must have gone oh-so-wrong.

And in that case, even if all it takes to land Zion is an unguaranteed bag of peanuts… would you like to have the Zion Circus set camp in New York?