No. 1 overall pick Zion Williamson put together moments of brilliance in his professional debut, showcasing his all-world athleticism at NBA Summer League in Las Vegas. However, the former Duke star left his first game early with a knee injury and, on Saturday afternoon, the Pelicans announced that Williamson will not return to the floor in the desert, shutting him down for the duration of the week.
“Zion will move forward from this incident without issue,” said David Griffin, Pelicans Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations. “However in an abundance of caution, we have made the determination that he will not appear in game action for the remainder of the NBA Summer League. He will continue to take part in training and conditioning with our performance team.”
As Griffin notes, this appears to be a move stemming from caution and, considering the low stakes of Summer League, it also feels like the right move. Williamson showed more than enough in his brief tour of duty and, with any level of weirdness whatsoever concerning his knee, New Orleans should be as careful as possible.
Williamson will join No. 2 pick Ja Morant on the sidelines and, with ongoing trade machinations keeping some other lottery picks off the floor for the time being, there are notable absences across the board. Still, Williamson is, quite easily, the biggest name that was projected to take part in the on-court madness and that simply won’t be happening any more.
