The drama that has played out on social media over the offseason between New Orleans Pelicans superstar Zion Williamson and former adult actress known as Moriah Mills has taken a lot of twists and turns and landed the 2019 top draft pick in the midst of trade rumors.
While the alleged reveal of money payouts may come as a shock to some basketball fans, retired NBA champion Andrew Bogut said in a recent episode of his “Rogue Bogues by Andrew Bogut” podcast the things Williamson is currently dealing with are all too common in the league.
Bogut said he didn’t want to go off on Williamson but needed to make clear that this type of thing wasn’t a “one off” when it came to the NBA.
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Andrew Bogut during game between the Illawarra Hawks and the Sydney Kings at WIN Entertainment Centre on April 29, 2022, in Wollongong, Australia. (Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
“If you think this is a one off in the NBA, you’re very wrong, you’re very wrong,” Bogut explained. “This is a common occurrence on many teams I’ve been on. This is a common occurrence among the league where there are different relationships and that’s how they have their relationships.
“Some know about it, some don’t. But this, this is not, this is not something you need to be shocked about because it happens a lot. There’s girls I know for a fact they are on players’ payrolls to be a side girl. Unfortunately, the stupidity of that is that tap cannot get turned off, bro.”
The former Golden State Warriors center gave some “relationship advice.”
“Once you’re paying a girl or man – this could go either way these days – you’re paying a side piece to be a side piece, the moment you stop paying that side piece, your wife’s going to find out about it, bro, that’s just the way the world works.
“So the moment you’re like, ‘Holy s—, I’ve retired I can’t keep paying you 20K a month to be my side piece because I can’t afford it anymore,’ that’s gonna go public. That’s just the reality of the world. I saw it mainly in silence in the NBA, I had some people that I played with and against that were paying people off and whatnot and this and that. It’s normal bro, I have to say it’s normal.”
Zion Williamson of the Pelicans looks on during the San Antonio Spurs game on March 21, 2023, at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans. (Garrett Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images)
Mills, who is now a hip-hop artist and calls herself Moriah M, made the initial claim she was in a relationship with Williamson after his girlfriend announced earlier in the week the two were expecting a baby.
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Since then, the former adult film actress has released several lewd messages on social media from their alleged conversations and has hounded him on social media.
Williamson has not commented on the controversy. However, in between the tweets and allegations surfacing, Williamson helped donate hundreds of thousands of dollars to a Louisiana school program.
According to ESPN, Williamson partnered with Jefferson Parish’s Summer Bridge program. His foundation donated $250,000 to help with uniform costs for children who attend new schools because of recent consolidations.
New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson drives against 76ers forward Tobias Harris at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on Jan. 2, 2023. (Bill Streicher-USA Today Sports)
Bogut later suggested there were women who would try to find unusual ways to get pregnant via NBA players without actually having intercourse.
“When we had our NBA rookie transition program…. They were telling, there was a group of girls at one point before I got in the league that would take the condom when the guy was finished and take it – wherever it was out of the bin or whatever – drop it outside the door to another girl, and then try to get impregnated that way. Not the best way to get impregnated, but there were scenes like that,” he said.
“There were cases where, you know, female said they’d been violently abused in a room, and then there was elevator footage of them punching themselves, you know, so there’s schemes to get these players, to knock them up, to get money out of them.”
Bogut said Williamson just has to be smarter.
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“I’m not always saying it’s not the players fault because it takes two to tango, but the fact the media loves this stuff, I hate it. I think it’s disgusting to do this, but if you’re Zion you got to be smarter than that, man. You just can’t be doing that stuff.”
