The New Orleans Pelicans VP of Basketball Operations David Griffin revealed that Zion Williamson is recovering from a foot surgery he had earlier in the offseason
I was hoping the Pelicans media day would be full of questions about actual basketball, but that was a pipe dream, as the Pelicans continue to move from one disaster to the next.
Last week, the bizarre details of Griffin’s strained relationship were all the talk and now this gem:
Pelicans' Zion Williamson had surgery for a fractured right foot this offseason and should return for the start of the regular season, David Griffin says.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 27, 2021
Pardon me if I am somewhat skeptical of this “start of the regular season” talk, as the Pelicans front office has always worked behind a veil of secrecy, with our only window into their operations through the always-confusing oration of Griffin, who is the master of saying a lot without telling you anything
New Orleans Pelicans: Why keep Zion Williamson’s injury a secret?
I’ve written about the Pelicans dysfunction in the past and this latest revelation just piles onto the narrative that the Pelicans’ front office is pretty much making this up as they go along.
Now we are getting information that the franchise cornerstone was injured early in the offseason and had to have surgery?
Griffin says Zion's injury occurred prior to summer league while working out. Said the rehab has been done in lockstep with the organization and they are happy with where this is at
— Shamit Dua (@FearTheBrown) September 27, 2021
Summer League was well over a month ago, so why are we just finding out about this now? Look, I understand that people’s medical information is private and I don’t expect to hear about every time a player has to go to the doctor, but your superstar potentially missing the beginning of the season is important, no?
I also understand that Zion’s camp may have been the ones hiding this information and the Pelicans might have been in the dark for some amount of time as well. But this just adds to the narrative that Zion’s people and the Pelicans don’t communicate well.
Whether it was Zion or the Pelicans, I just don’t see the benefit in withholding this information when they knew it was going to come out sometime anyway. I suppose it saved us a few weeks of speculation about Zion Williamson, but I’d rather be speculating about something real than whether David Griffin serenaded Zion with Billy Joel songs.
Call me old fashioned, but I just don’t see the issue with being straight forward with fans, especially in New Orleans, where the fans are already suspect of a front office that has often operated in secrecy and never revealed their plans.
This just adds another layer of a drama to an offseason that has been full of it already.