New Orleans Pelicans head coach Willie Green delivered an update on star big man Zion Williamson on Monday. While Williamson is progressing well in his recovery from an offseason foot surgery, he will be out for at least 2-3 more weeks. At that point, he’s set to undergo further imagining to determine the next steps in his recovery.
In speaking to reporters, Green said that Williamson has started to do on-court work and has been cleared to do “explosive” movements. However, he is still not back to playing five-on-five, and the team is going to take the cautious route with their franchise cornerstone.
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On Media Day back in September, Pelicans vice president David Griffin made a surprise announcement that Williamson had suffered a fractured foot in the offseason which required surgery. At the time, Griffin said that the team was optimistic Williamson would be ready for the start of the season.
“His timeline should get him on the court in time for the regular season,” Griffin said. “That would be our hope and our view. We’re very optimistic about what that looks like. Unfortunately, I know that’s going to be taken as a very big negative for all of you. It’s really not for us because we were dealing with it all offseason. We feel very confident about where things are.”
Williamson was obviously not ready for the start of the season, and there’s no telling when he’ll be back on the court. It’s going to be at least 2-to-3 weeks until he gets new scans, and given the Pelicans’ correct inclination to play it safe, it’s likely we won’t see him for much longer than that.
That’s bad news for the Pelicans, who made a number of offseason changes and were hoping to get back in playoff contention. They haven’t made it to the postseason since back in 2018, and based on the first few weeks without Williamson it appears that drought is going to continue. At 1-6 they’re tied with the Indiana Pacers and Orlando Magic for the worst record in the league, and are about to embark on a difficult four-game road trip that includes games against the Phoenix Suns, Golden State Warriors.
