Zion Williamson’s foot injury was a mystery to the New Orleans Pelicans
Heading into training camp, not many knew that New Orleans Pelicans’ All-Star Zion Williamson was dealing with a foot injury and barely anybody knew that he had undergone offseason foot surgery. Now, reports are surfacing that not even the Pelicans knew about this foot surgery that Zion had!
Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report wrote on Wednesday that there is a “strong belief” within the league that the New Orleans Pelicans were “unaware” of the surgery Zion Williamson had done on his foot and that they found out about this right before media day on September 27.
Ever since he came into the league after being drafted first overall by the Pelicans, Zion Williamson’s relationship with the Pelicans management has been shaky. There were some problems initially with when he would and would not make his NBA debut during his rookie season and then recently, there was a lot of talks early on in the offseason about whether or not Zion should stay in New Orleans long-term.
Shams Charania, Joe Vardon, and William Guillory of The Athletic reported in June that some of Zion Williamson’s family members do not want the young All-Star to remain in New Orleans long-term. There has always been a lot of talk about Williamson playing for the New York Knicks, and this was expected to happen until the Pelicans edged out the Knicks in the 2019 NBA Draft Lottery.
LATEST NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Trade Situations To Monitor Around NBA As New Season Begins
Since these rumors have emerged, the New Orleans Pelicans and Zion Williamson have remained loyal to one another and have stated the complete opposite, but no reports of New Orleans being in the dark about Zion’s health definitely adds a little more weight to the claim of him not being fully committed to the Pelicans long-term.
As a result of this foot injury, Zion Williamson is going to miss the New Orleans Pelicans’ season-opener against the Philadelphia 76ers and he could very well wind up missing the first handful of weeks of the 2021-22 season.
With them adding Devonte’ Graham, Jonas Valanciunas, Tomas Satoransky, and others this offseason, New Orleans is “all-in” on winning right now and making a real playoff push with Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram as their young leaders.
LATEST NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Trade Situations To Monitor Around NBA As New Season Begins
This organization has not been to the playoffs since 2018, but with two emerging superstars in Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson, they really do feel that they have a shot to be a competitive team for many years to come.
Finally having talent around their stars, the Pelicans can absolutely make a real playoff push this season, but a lot of their potential success hinders on whether or not Zion is healthy.
On October 14, Pelicans’ Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations, David Griffin, stated that Zion Williamson has been cleared for the next step in his rehab process, but there is still no timetable for his return. Griffin also mentioned that Zion’s next scans would be in two to three weeks, so we very likely could see the Pelicans without their star big man until closer to the first or second week of November.
For the New Orleans Pelicans to be a successful team, they need Zion Williamson out there on the court, but this does not seem like something they will be rushing him back from.
LATEST NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Trade Situations To Monitor Around NBA As New Season Begins
Given his injury history and the fact that they were left out of the decision-making process for his recent foot injury, Zion’s arraignment in New Orleans is definitely going to be a situation to keep an eye on moving forward, especially since he will be eligible for a five-year, $200M+ contract extension next offseason.
