Zion Williamson NOT expected to return for postseason
Zion Williamson NOT expected to return for postseason
After reports came out that Williamson was most likely not returning for the first round of the postseason, if New Orleans got out of the play-in, Zion has answered to the media.
Zion Williamson has confirmed that even if the Pelicans make it to the first round of the postseason, he probably won’t be playing. Also, he says he will return “when I feel like Zion again.”
Williamson even admits that he is feeling good, but does not want to return yet. This comes after the Pelicans cleared him to return.
“When I go to make certain moves, there is that hesitation,” said Williamson. “Sometimes there’s not and sometimes there is. And I understand the magnitude of these games coming up and I don’t want to be out there hesitating or doing something that may affect my team in a bad way.”
The Pelicans take on the Oklahoma City Thunder Wednesday to determine who will be facing the Timberwolves Friday.
According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, confirmed by the New Orleans Pelicans, Zion Williamson and CJ McCollum have been shut down for the remainder of the season.
This season has gone very poorly for New Orleans due to majority of their players being injured throughout the season, which has caused them to drop to 14th in the Western Conference.
Williamson, who has recently been dealing with a back injury, only played 30 games this season. He’s only played in 214 career games in six seasons.
McCollum, who has been dealing with a foot contusion injury, only played in 57 games this season. This is a nine game drop off from last season.
With the Pelicans being 21-54, they saw no point in trying to rush their starting line players back onto the court. They will now look ahead to the offseason’s draft and free agency.
According to multiple reports, there was a growing feeling around the league that Taylor Jenkins was going to be fired in the offseason.
The timing was very surprising, but the firing was not for many people associated with the NBA. In fact, it was almost expected he wouldn’t return for the next season.
Why the feeling was growing so much was due to Memphis overhauling his coaching staff and completely cutting him out for the future.
“The anticipation was they’d get bounced in the first round and he’d be fired,” said Tim MacMahon on Monday’s Hoop Collective Podcast. “That’s honestly been the anticipation since last summer. All season long. Like the odds of Taylor Jenkins coming back next year were very slim. But to be fired with nine games left in the season… a playoff team. Yeah, the timing was shocking.”
Jenkins was their head coach for six seasons before getting canned, he was hired back in 2019 to replace current Detroit Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff before they selected Ja Morant with the second overall pick.