In the wake of a dominant preseason, Zion Williamson will miss time to start the regular season for the New Orleans Pelicans, including next Tuesday’s opener.
Riding great success in the 2019 preseason, the New Orleans Pelicans’ luck took a bad turn on Thursday afternoon as the team prepared to head to New York for their final exhibition game. Per the team’s report, Zion Williamson suffered an injury on the team’s win over the San Antonio Spurs earlier this week.
Reported yesterday afternoon by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the Pelicans’ star rookie will miss a “period of weeks” following the injury to his right knee.
A severe injury has been ruled out for Zion Williamson’s right knee, but he is expected to miss period of weeks to start regular season, league sources tell ESPN. Pels are clearly treating injury with an abundance of caution but there’s no shortage of confidence on full recovery.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) October 18, 2019
The exact timeline and details are still unknown. He did practice on the injured knee this week.
While all indications are the Williamson will make a full recovery and will not need surgery, it’ll be disappointing for fans, who will likely have to wait until at least after October to catch their first glimpse of the phenom.
Prior to the injury, Zion Williamson’s impact on the league was incredible. Now, the team will lean on Jrue Holiday to play the starring role, plus to Brandon Ingram to fill into Zion’s scoring volume.
Potentially, it’ll mean the most for Derrick Favors, who really needs to carry the load on the interior for the Pelicans frontcourt with Williamson out of the fold in the short term. However, it could allow Favors to find more comfort in the Pelicans’ offensive and defensive systems in his first season with the team.
Williamson averaged 23.3 points, 6.5 rebounds, and shot 71.4% from the floor in four preseason games, including the game against San Antonio when he suffered the injury to his knee.
The injury certainly rules him out for the league opener on the road against the defending NBA Champion Toronto Raptors in just five days.
Zion joins Darius Miller as the only Pelicans players who will miss the start of the NBA season, though Miller will miss the whole campaign.
During his time at Duke, Zion suffered another leg injury after his sneaker exploded while he was playing in the first few minutes against North Carolina. He missed five games for that injury but returned in time for the team’s run in the ACC Tournament.
The injury is a small setback, but a disappointment for Pelicans fans, who were ready to see this rebuilt team take the floor in full on Tuesday night. Hopefully, it’ll be a short-term injury and the rookie will find the floor sooner than later. Until then, fans will have to wait.