The New Orleans Pelicans just notched their 20th win of the 2024-25 NBA season, a late-March battering of the Philadelphia 76ers, 112-99. Unfortunately, this game was one that the Pelicans would have been much better off losing. This victory put New Orleans a full game ahead of the Charlotte Hornets for 27th place in the league standings.
It also brought them much closer to the Sixers, who moved to 23-49. Philadelphia has a top-seven protected first-round pick this summer. If they fall out of the top-seven selections, they'll have to relay their pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder. While they could retain their pick without jumping in front of the Pelicans, both in the standings and in the lottery, New Orleans would be wise to finish as low as they can this season.
It's not like the Pelicans didn't try to lose this game. New Orleans held out several players in an attempt to give the W to Philly, but the Sixers did some lineup manipulation of their own to field an even worse lineup than the Pels. Zion Williamson was among the absences. Normally, one could safely assume that he missed this March matchup solely in support of his team's tank, but that simply doesn't apply to Zion.
Even minor injuries from Zion Williamson can invoke trauma from the Pelicans' faithful
Zion Williamson's absence against the Philadelphia 76ers marked his third straight missed game. While CJ McCollum and Bruce Brown Jr. were given rest designations for the night, Big Z was again listed on the injury report with a lower back contusion, the same tag he had against the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Detroit Pistons.
Chances are, his inclusion on the injury report is more of a precaution or a means to tank these remaining games than an indication of an actual serious ailment. After all, when we last saw Zion on an NBA court he seemed perfectly healthy. His last appearance came against the Wolves on Wednesday, March 19, when he finished with 29 points, eight rebounds, and three steals on 12-16 shooting, including the dagger for the Pelicans. He would go on to be ruled out of the second leg of their double-header against Minnesota with a lower back bruise just two days later.
While it seems pretty clear that this injury isn't a serious one for Zion, any fan who panicked when they initially saw him land on the injury report again can't be blamed. Even if an injury seems minor, one can't help but think that it might hold Williamson out much longer than it typically would other players. Earlier this season, he missed two months of action with a hamstring strain that normally costs athletes 4-6 weeks. At this stage in his career, even if he never misses an extended stretch again, the fear that a new injury is just over the horizon will hang over his head in perpetuity, like Damocles's sword.