In about the least shocking news of all time, the New Orleans Pelicans have announced that Zion Williamson will miss the beginning of the regular season.
David Griffin got pedantic when explaining what he meant when he said Zion would be back for the regular season, saying he didn’t mean opening night, just some time during the regular season.
Sure.
Whether you think Griffin not being straight with fans is wrong or not, the fact remains that the team will be without Zion Williamson yet again.
This is the second time in three years that Zion will not be available for the first game of the regular season, and it is time that the Pelicans thought about why that is and how they can keep it from happening in the future.
New Orleans Pelicans: It’s time to change Zion Williamson’ offseason
There has been a lot made of how Zion Williamson chooses to work out with his “team” (which includes his stepfather) instead of with the Pelicans, the team that pays his salary.
Zion was injured during training, but no information has been released about what he was doing or who he was doing it with since it didn’t happen during an official team practice and the team is not obligated to share information about players’ health unless it does.
Zion gave us a little info, saying during a SiriusXM interview:
"“I think I was overdoing it when I was training because I felt like I had this huge chip on my shoulder, this huge boulder.”"
On one hand, I am happy Zion wants to win and feels responsible for the team’s success, which he should as their best player.
On the other, I’d like to know exactly what he was “overdoing.” Was this training with teammates? Were team trainers there? Was there anyone with medical expertise guiding his offseason workouts?
Zion is a unique athlete, a point guard in a linebacker’s body who probably has different physical needs and challenges than other players.
It’s time that he had qualified trainers and doctors around him during the offseason so that he can avoid “overdoing” it and instead focus on a tailor-made health program that is suited to his unique needs.
All of this secrecy is frustrating, but it’s also frustrating to think that the Pelicans are not doing everything in their power to keep their star healthy, or that his “camp” is preventing them from doing so.
This is a professional sports team, not a home gym, and they need to start acting like it so that their star doesn’t get injured during unsupervised workouts.