Zion Williamson still isn’t ready to return to the court.
The New Orleans Pelicans star will miss at least two more weeks recovering from a hamstring injury, the team said on Wednesday. Williamson has played in just six games for the Pelicans this season, and he’s been sidelined since Nov. 6 with the injury.
Williamson first went down in a loss to the Cavaliers last month, and he checked himself out of the game with the injury. The team first expected him to miss just four to six weeks recovering, but initial treatments reportedly did not work as well as they had hoped. ESPN’s Shams Charania reported just before Thanksgiving that Williamson will likely be sidelined until mid-December, if not longer, which tracks with what the Pelicans said on Wednesday.
Williamson, who the Pelicans selected with the No. 1 overall pick in 2019, has missed 210 games out of a possible 400 regular season games with the team. He’s averaged 22.7 points, eight rebounds and 5.3 assists this season. Williamson also reportedly split with his agents at CAA last month for unclear reasons.
Though Williamson has been injured frequently throughout his career, the team felt he was in the best shape of his career this fall. He reportedly lost more than 25 pounds leading up to the season, too.
The injury is the latest setback that the Pelicans have faced already this season, which isn’t even two months old. Dejounte Murray, Trey Murphy III, C.J. McCollum, Jordan Hawkins and Herb Jones have all missed time due to various injuries along with Williamson, and it’s cost the Pelicans significantly. They’ve lost 15 of their last 16 games and sit at just 4-18 on the season. Jones and Brandon Ingram, who was out with right plantaris tendonitis, were full participants at practice on Wednesday. Jose Alvarado is also dealing with a hamstring strain, and will be out for at least two more weeks.
The Pelicans will take on the Phoenix Suns next on Thursday in New Orleans.