The New Orleans Pelicans expected Zion Williamson to return from his strained hamstring before the season ends.
The latest news out of the Big Easy doesn’t make that sound likely. While he has been cleared for some on-court activity, Zion will be re-evaluated in two weeks, the team announced.
Medical Update on Zion Williamson:
— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) March 22, 2023
Following a re-evaluation on his right hamstring strain, Zion Williamson has been cleared to return to on-court activities. He will be re-evaluated in two weeks.
A two-week timeline has him re-evaluated on April 5. The last day of the NBA regular season is April 9.
If the goal is to have him back for the playoffs, the Pelicans need to make it first — at 35-37 they sat 12th in the West heading into Wednesday night’s action, but that was just half a game out of the play-in and 1.5 games out of tying Golden State for the No. 6 seed (although leapfrogging all those teams to get to the top six is highly improbable). Zion returning would make the Pelicans a lower-seed team to fear in the playoffs, they outscore opponents by 7.2 points per 100 possessions when he is on the court this season.
The problem is he has only been on the court for 29 games. We don’t know when we will see him again.
