Stephen A. Smith claims Zion Williamson was ‘hiding food under his bed’ and is left shocked by his body transformation

STEPHEN A. Smith shared new info concerning NBA star Zion Williamson’s past diet struggles.

The ESPN personality, 56, made the reveal after the New Orleans Pelicans big man’s latest body transformation.

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This week, a picture of Zion Williamson has gone viral of the 6-foot-6 two-time NBA All-Star looking slimmer than usual.

Williamson’s stepfather recently revealed he’s currently at 281 pounds and the Pelicans star’s goal is to weigh 272 pounds before the 2024-25 season begins.

He had weighed 285 pounds during his college tenure at Duke.

Stephen A. Smith spoke about Williamson’s dieting efforts during his self-titled YouTube show, saying he was “proud” of him.

But the 56-year-old First Take star opened up about Williamson’s past weight issues.

“His problem was food. I’m not exaggerating when I tell y’all you got people in the NBA that say he was hiding food under his bed,” Smith said.

“Because the Pelicans checked up on him to make sure he tried to engage in some level of containment when it came to his diet, and that brother wasn’t trying to hear it.”

Williamson has gotten criticisms over his off-court conditioning and injury history .

His weight became a topic last season as the 24-year-old exceeded 285 pounds.

It’s been reported that Williamson’s contract extension holds a weight stipulation that impacts whether his 2025-26 season salary gets fully guaranteed or not.

He will have to pass six weigh-in checkpoints to receive at least 20% of his $39.4 million salary in 2025-26.

Williamson has dealt with numerous injury-plagued seasons.

In 2021-22, he missed the whole season due to a knee injury.

In the following campaign, Williamson played only 29 games while averaging 26.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 4.6 assists.

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He played a career-high 70 games last season, averaging 22.9 points, 5.8 rebounds and five assists.

Williamson helped the Pelicans claim the No. 8 seed.

However, Williamson wouldn’t appear in the team’s first-round series against the Oklahoma City Thunder due to a hamstring injury he suffered in the No. 7 vs. No. 8 seed game versus the Los Angeles Lakers .

New Orleans would get swept by Oklahoma City in the first-round matchup.

“We say very little about Zion’s game because we know when this man wants it, he can come get it,” Stephen A. said.