New Orleans Pelicans: Concern is warranted for Zion Williamson

How much concern should there be around Zion Williamson and the New Orleans Pelicans? 

The New Orleans Pelicans are heading into a big season. And Zion Williamson will be under a significant amount of pressure to deliver, perhaps even more so than the team’s front office.

So when it was reported that Zion had offseason surgery (on a fractured right foot), it kind of took the air out of what many were hoping to be a breakout season for both Zion and the Pelicans.

The hope was that Zion Williamson would be ready for the start of the 2021-22 NBA regular season. As of Wednesday afternoon, there was no update on Zion and he was still not practicing with the team. He did some cardio, according to head coach Willie Green, but that was as much of an update that he had with roughly a week before the start of the season.

Early this week (Oct 11), Zion had not even started running yet. The team says they were waiting on results from his scans.

Apparently, according to Green, the team was still waiting on the results from those scans. So I’m not exactly sure what’s going on in New Orleans regarding Zion’s most recent injury. Either Green is trying to be coy about the injury or perhaps he’s trying to hide something here.

And perhaps not even in a bad way. Maybe the injury was worse than what was initially revealed and he doesn’t want that known in the media. And that leads to the previous point – why did the Pelicans hide this injury from the media?

It’s just fishy all around. And considering this is a big season for Zion – his third in the league – this is not a time when the Pelicans can afford to be operating around with hidden agendas.

Regardless of the Pelicans’ actions, what’s really concerning is the actual injury. The team’s behavior aside, what’s really concerning is another lower limb injury for Zion. His rookie season got off to a slow start because of one and now his third season will likely be shortened because of a broken foot.

When he’s been healthy, Zion has been one of the league’s most dominating players. The problem is, he’s missed a whole lot of games during his first two seasons and will likely miss a good chunk of games in just his third season.

The pre-draft concerns of his long-term durability have to be on the back of the Pelicans’ minds right now and that’s probably the biggest reason why they continue to bring him along slowly during his rehab.

Either way, this entire situation isn’t a good look for the team and can’t be good news for Zion. After a curious offseason from the front office and a hidden injury, I’m not really sure there’s anything you can truly expect from the team this season.

The Pelicans are on the clock. And if they don’t break through this season, I can’t help but wonder what potentially awaits the team next offseason.