Zion Williamson injury update: Pelicans reveal updated timetable as star remains out with hamstring issue

The New Orleans Pelicans announced on Wednesday that All-Star forward Zion Williamson’s will be out for at least two more weeks due to his hamstring strain. Williamson underwent new imaging, which showed that he is progressing well but still needs more time to recover, per the team.

Williamson has not played since Jan. 2, when he left the team’s loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. After grabbing a rebound late in the third quarter, Williamson raced up the floor before pulling up at the 3-point line. He immediately gave up the ball and grabbed at his leg, then checked out at the next dead ball. That is the last time we’ve seen him on the floor. 

Based on the initial timeline, the Pelicans were hopeful that Williamson would only miss three weeks, though that always seemed optimistic. In fact, he was well past that timeline when he suffered a setback in early February that ruled him out of the All-Star Game, for which he was named a starter. 

This is the latest injury problem for Williamson, who missed all of last season due to a broken foot and subsequent complications with his recovery. Since being the No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, he has still only played 114 career games. 

When he has been on the floor, he’s been awesome, which only increases the frustration for both him and the Pelicans. In 29 games prior to the hamstring issue, he averaged 26 points, seven rebounds and 4.6 assists, while shooting 60.8 percent from the field. Thanks to his stellar play, the Pelicans got off to a 23-13 start, and were just a game out of first place in the Western Conference at the start of the New Year. Since then, however, they have collapsed, and now sit in a tie for 10th place at 31-34. 

With only a month remaining in the regular season, Williamson will now be pushing it to return at all. If the team continues trending downwards, the Pelicans may not even be in play-in position by the final few weeks, at which point they’d have to decide if it’s even worth it to bring Williamson back.