All-Star big man Zion Williamson has played in 29 games this season, averaging 26 ppg.
The Pelicans said on Thursday that Zion Williamson was out for at least Friday’s game against the New York Knicks (8 p.m. ET, NBA League Pass). On Friday, Pelicans executive vice president David Griffin pushed that timeline out considerably further.
Griffin ruled Williamson out of the AT&T Play-In Tournament, which the Pelicans have already qualified for, and said Williamson could return for a first-round playoff series should New Orleans advance that far.
“Based on today, our best possible outcome would be if everything lined up perfectly, maybe you’re in a position to practice prior to a first round. Or maybe during a first round,” Griffin told reporters, per Christian Clark of NOLA.com. “But it’s going to take more than one, right? It’s really hard. We may never get to that point either. If it’s not a situation where those things align and he feels the way he needs to feel, we’re not going to let him go to the next phase.”
If the Pelicans have to fight their way into the playoffs via the play-in tournament, we won't see Zion. Here's everything David Griffin said about Zion's status Friday at shootaround. https://t.co/rIG2SQafAG
— Christian Clark (@cclark_13) April 7, 2023
Williamson has been sideline with a right hamstring injury since Jan. 2, when he left the team’s game in Philadelphia because of it. On Thursday, the tone for Williamson’s outlook sounded a bit more optimistic.
The Pelicans’ announcement on Thursday came a day after they clinched a spot in the NBA postseason with a victory over Memphis that guaranteed the team a top-nine finish in the Western Conference — good enough for at least a Play-In spot. New Orleans (41-39) still could finish in the top six and go straight to the playoffs if it wins its last two games and receives help in the form of losses by Golden State (42-38) or the LA Clippers (42-38).
David Griffin announced the following update on Zion Williamson:
“After further evaluation, it has been determined that Zion Williamson will continue his rehabilitation and conditioning regimen.
We will continue to monitor his progression, and updates will be provided as… pic.twitter.com/HgtClM5gmS
— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) April 6, 2023
Previous updates provided by the Pelicans said Williamson would continue his rehabilitation for multiple weeks before a re-evaluation of his injury. The latest provided no such timeline or detail. The Pelicans are scheduled to practice on Saturday before their regular-season finale at Minnesota on Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET, NBA League Pass).
If Williamson were able to return to form for the playoffs and remain healthy, his addition to the lineup would make the Pelicans a more formidable postseason threat than their regular-season record or seeding would otherwise indicate.
When the 6-foot-6, 280-pound Williamson has played, he’s been among the Pelicans’ most productive players, averaging 26 points and seven rebounds per game. In the 29 games he has played this season, New Orleans went 17-12.
Could Zion Williamson be ready in time for the Pelicans' Play-In Tournament run?
Williamson has struggled to remain reliably healthy since being selected first overall by New Orleans in the 2019 NBA draft.
Now in his fourth year as a pro, he has played in a total of 114 games. He appeared in 61 games in his second NBA season, but that was the only season in which he played more than 30 games. He played in just 24 games as a rookie because of a knee injury and did not play at all in his third season because of a broken foot.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
