Zion Williamson has suffered a setback in his progress towards return. The New Orleans Pelicans forward will now miss “multiple” weeks after reaggravating the injury while ramping up his return. The Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations David Griffin said on Sunday.
“I think we’re looking at multiple weeks past the All-Star break that he’ll be back,” Griffin said. “What that looks like in terms of timeline, I really can’t tell you. Much as we have throughout this, we’ll continue to image him and post-All-Star that will happen.”
Williamson had worked his way up to three-on-three work and the aggravation happened during this period. Griffin was honest about the setback.
“It’s fair to say not terribly well because he was really diligent in his rehab and in the process. Unfortunately this is an injury that has a really high incidence of recurrence. It’s nothing he did wrong to bring this about. He was very diligent in the process and it just is what it is.”
Though he hasn’t played since Jan. 2, Zion Williamson has played in 29 games this season and averaged 26.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game while shooting 60.8% from the floor.
The Pelicans have lost 14 of their last 20 games in that span, which included a 10-game losing streak. Before the injury occured, New Orleans was amongst the top of the Western Conference with a 23-14 record. They have since fallen to 29-28 as CJ McCollum and Brandon Ingram have done their best to hold down the fort.
Though some of those games lost, Ingram was also out. Ingram is now back in the lineup and has scored 25 or more points in each of his past four games. The Pelicans enter Monday night’s game at Oklahoma City having won three of four, with the lone loss in that stretch coming against surging Cleveland, which is on a six-game winning streak.
The West remains tight, with the Pelicans just 1.5 games out of forth place. After the All-Star break, the schedule gets easier for the Pelicans.They have the easiest remaining schedule throughout the rest of the season based on opponent winning percentage.
“Unfortunately this is an injury that has a very high incidence of recurrence,” Griffin said. “It’s nothing he did wrong to bring this about. … It’s an injury that’s tricky and hard to navigate. I think you’ve seen other players around the league have those same re-incidences. It’s not unique.”
via NBA.com
The Pelicansmade a move at last week’s NBA trade deadline that sent 6-foot-1 reserve guard Devonte’ Graham to San Antonio for veteran 6-5 guard Josh Richardson, who is in his eighth season and is expected to help New Orleans defensively.
“We all feel for Z, having to navigate these injuries,” Pelicans coach Willie Green said. “It’s an opportunity for guys to kind of band together and go out and play our best basketball.
Green, who played in the NBA for 12 seasons, said it will be important for Williamson to “get into a good mental space” now.
“It’s going to be important for him to continue to attack the rehab to give himself an opportunity to get back on the floor,” Green said. “For the rest of the guys. … We’ve created a standard. We know how we want to play. Guys have to do it and we all have to kind of come together while Z is out.”
via NBA.com
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