In 2022, the Pelicans and Zion reached a five-year $193 million contract extension, with a maximum contract of $231 million for five years, but Zion only played 29 games in the 2022-2023 season and was not selected for the best team, so he did not qualify for an additional super cap salary, even so, $193 million for five years is a huge contract, after all, the total salary of many celebrities in their careers has not reached $200 million.
Zion thought that after signing this big contract, he would be able to live without worry, but he never expected that the contract provided by the Pelicans contained requirements for weight and body fat percentage, according to the contract, the sum of Zion's weight and body fat percentage must be less than 295. He weighed 285 pounds last season, meaning he couldn't have more than 10% body fat. The Pelicans also highlighted the rules regarding Zion's right metacarpal injury in the contract, if Zion has another injury related to the metacarpal bone of his right foot, then half of Zion's salary in the 2024-25 season will not be guaranteed, and there are also regulations related to the number of appearances, Zion must reach a certain number of appearances if he wants to get full salary, so this season Zion's impact on the court is much weaker than before, and the range of action is much more convergent, in order to reduce the risk of injury in order to get more salary.
According to the reporter's disclosure: Zion's weight and body fat ratio are required to get 20% of the salary, participate in 41 games, will get 40% of the salary, participate in 51 games, will get 60% of the salary, participate in 61 games, will get 80% of the salary. Since Zion joined the NBA league, he has played no more than 25 games per season on average, and it is conceivable that it will be difficult to meet the above requirements.