Reasons New Orleans Pelicans fans should temper Zion Williamson knee concerns

Zion Williamson’s knee injury has fans on red alert in New Orleans, but there’s plenty of reasons for Pelicans faithful to calm their panic.

Game one of the 2019-2020 season was supposed to feature the defending champion Toronto Raptors taking on a potential megastar in his debut, but last night’s game lacked the arrival of Zion Williamson.

On Monday afternoon, Shams Charania of The Athletic reported that the rookie would miss the first 6-to-8 weeks of the season as he recovered from a tear in his right meniscus.

While it did hurt some of the excitement surrounding the team heading into opening night, there’s still so much to look forward to when Zion takes the floor later this year.

However, there’s been a lot of concern from basketball minds that this isn’t just a one-time injury. Considering the sheer force Zion plays with on the court, fans and former players have raised concerns.

Zion Williamson isn’t built like the textbook NBA player; he stands 6’6″, carrying 285 lbs, but moves across the court like Ricky Henderson trying to steal third in the playoffs.

What we know about Zion Williamson’s knee injury

Undergoing arthroscopic surgery to repair the meniscus in his right knee on Monday morning, Zion will not play for a short while. It’s apparently unknown when the issue actually occurred

It’s also being reported that the team does not believe the issue to be related to his weight.

Fans also know that Zion suffered an injury when his shoe exploded 36 seconds into the Duke Blue Devils’ match-up against the North Carolina Tarheels. That injury was a grade one sprain of the same right knee.

Zion recovered, leading the team to an ACC Tournament Championship and a run to the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament en route to his Naismith College Basketball Player of the Year award.

He suffered a left knee injury in his lone Summer League appearance, which held him out of the rest of the Las Vegas tournament.

The team doesn’t seem to see this as an issue conditioning, but more a matter of his physicality and athleticism biting back.

“The notion that this happened because Zion is in poor condition is asinine. He wasn’t in poor condition when he went 12 of 13 last week against Utah.” David Griffin said of Zion’s injury. “That’s not what it is. He’s just a very unique body type and certainly from a physics perspective.”

While there’s always a reason to worry about a young player’s health in the long run, the team feels good about their outlook for Zion’s future after the setback.

Zion Williamson isn’t the first guy to need work done during his first year in the NBA.

When young players make the leap to the NBA, the game speeds up and gets a lot more physical than any other level of basketball. For Zion Williamson, that resulted in the tearing of his meniscus in his right knee during the preseason.

Around the internet, there have been some folks drawing parallels between Zion Williamson and fellow former first overall pick Greg Oden. However, there are a lot of reasons that’s comparison is problematic, including the sheer size differential.

Zion stands 6’6″ and Oden towers at 7’0″. Both play very different styles of basketball, which has a lot to do with their half-a-foot of size differential. Oden did weigh 300 lbs entering the NBA, while Zion weights 285 lbs, but the latter moves a heck of a lot quicker than the other.

Instead of Oden, fans should be drawing comparisons to  Ben Simmons and Blake Griffin, both of whom didn’t suit up for their first year in the NBA. Both players suffered lower-body injuries and have gone on to have fantastic careers, even with Simmons just now entering his third full season.

Griffin missed the whole year with a stress fracture and break within his left kneecap before winning Rookie of the Year in 2011 and appearing in six All-Star Games.

In Simmons’ case, he rolled his right ankle in practice, resulting in a break of the fifth metatarsal bone in his foot, which kept him out through his rookie campaign. He’s gone to recover just fine, winning the 2018 Rookie of the Year and making the All-Star Game in 2019.

Williamson seems to be different than these two, however, because he’s slated to return in two months on the longest timeline, though he’ll likely be anxious to get back on the floor even sooner.

Aaron Nelson is pretty much the best sports trainer in the industry.

As Zion recovers from his injury, not only is he going to be working with an NBA medical team but the very best professional training staff in the league.

When Executive VP of Basketball operations David Griffin came to the New Orleans Pelicans, he didn’t just bring a new roster, he changed the culture of the entire organization. Part of that culture change included revamping a previously infamous basketball training staff.

Coming to the Pelicans after 26 years with the Phoenix Suns, the Pelicans hired Vice President of Player Development and Performance Aaron Nelson to revamp the organization’s entire training regimen and facility.

Showcased by ESPN 30 for 30, Nelson and his Suns’ staff were the subjects of a film highlighting their excellence as a collective, with Nelson of course in the leading role.

Nelson, who was the head athletic trainer in Phoenix, is credited with extending the careers of Steve Nash, Grant Hill, and Shaquille O’Neal, all of whom have made the leap into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

The team is clearly proceeding with extreme caution, as knees are delicate and Zion Williamson is such a promising young player.

In comments before yesterday’s game in Toronto, Griffin told reporters, “We’re going to be very cautious, as we would be with anyone. This is a marathon; it’s not a sprint.”

Over the next serving of weeks, Zion is going to be working with one of the best trainers not only in the entire sport but in the entire sports medicine field to get his knee back in shape.

At the end of the day, Zion Williamson is still a freak of nature.

When we watched Zion Williamson soaring across the court at Duke University, we were watching something special. One knee injury isn’t going to slow that down, but of course, fans aren’t concerned about the singular injury.

Eventually, we’ll be back to our regularly-scheduled, gravity-defying basketball moves from the 19-year-old rookie, but for now, the New Orleans Pelicans are taking care of one of the most important knees in basketball.

Still on the table will be the captivating interplay between him and his teammates. Certainly, Jrue Holiday and Williamson will make for an exciting one-two punch, while Lonzo Ball feeding the slam dunk machine looks that’ll end up on SportsCenter’s Top 10 for seasons to come.

The rookie’s physical tools are tantalizing and when you watch him play, it’s impossible to take your eyes off the kid. That sort of athleticism is inherent within Zion and that burst will be there for a long time.

Zion Williamson is ideally going to be in our lives for a long time, so hopefully, this won’t be a sign of things to come down the road for the phenom. When he gets to town, it’s going to be incredibly thrilling.