The New Orleans Pelicans received devastating news about power forward Zion Williamson Sunday. Williamson, who has been sidelined with a hamstring injury since early January, re-aggravated the injury. Now, he’s expected to miss even more time after the All-Star break, as per new comments from Pelicans’ executive vice president of basketball operations David Griffin to Shams Charania of Stadium and The Athletic.
Williamson, 22, has had a history of injuries since leaving Duke for the NBA. This season, however, was his best as a pro before he was injured again.
Williamson (seen above in an October game) had been averaging 26 points, seven rebounds, and 4.6 assists per game over 29 games this season. He was also named to his first All-Star game, which he will be missing.
The Pelicans right now are fighting for their playoff lives, sitting in seventh place in the Western Conference with a 29-28 record.
Now, with the news of Williamson being out awhile longer, the question is how will it affect the team? They were able to overcome his injuries last year to make the playoffs. But this season is different.
Several teams in the Western Conference including the Dallas Mavericks, Phoenix Suns, and Los Angeles Lakers made major roster moves around the league’s trade deadline to improve their team’s positioning for the playoffs. That’s especially true for the Lakers, who are on the outside looking in, but hope to move into a playoff spot.
Time will only tell how this latest news will rock the Pelicans.
[Shams Charania on Twitter/photo from Kamil Krzaczynski/USA Today Sports]
About Stacey Mickles
Stacey is a 1995 graduate of the University of Alabama who has previously worked for other publications such as Sportskeeda and Saturday Down South.