The New Orleans Pelicans turned heads at their media day when the team announced that standout third-year big man Zion Williamson underwent foot surgery during the offseason. While executive David Griffin said “his timeline should get him back on the court in time for regular season,” it turns out Williamson will not be ready in time.
There was plenty of skepticism over that timetable earlier this week when head coach Willie Green said Williamson had not even began running, his inability to take the floor to start the year became official on Thursday, when Griffin said Williamson will get a new round of scans on his foot in the next few weeks.
David Griffin says Zion Williamson said surgeons reviewed scans and he is cleared for the next step.
“No fixed timeline”for return to game action. Next scans will be 2-2.5 weeks.
Zion will not be on the floor for the first week of games.
— Andrew Lopez (@_Andrew_Lopez) October 14, 2021
Once Zion gets re-scanned in the next 2-2.5 week period, Pelicans will be able to take the next step in his recovery process. https://t.co/gPV03YJUAG
— Andrew Lopez (@_Andrew_Lopez) October 14, 2021
Unsurprisingly, there were questions for Griffin regarding the timetable he laid out that made it sound like Williams and would be able to play in the season opener. In response, Griffin said that he never said the thing that he said, and then backtracked to say he meant something other than game one.
Griff on Zion: “Truth be told, I never said opening night. But that’s OK. I said for the regular season. But I do think it’s going to be something that because of the bone healing aspect of things, it’s hard. Every player is different. Nothing has gone wrong."
— Christian Clark (@cclark_13) October 14, 2021
Griff clarified today that "his timeline should get him back on the court in time for regular season" comment meant any time during the regular season, not the start of the regular season.
— Christian Clark (@cclark_13) October 14, 2021
The Pelicans have tended to take a very conservative approach to injuries when they are suffered by their young All-Star. /he team will start its regular season schedule at home on October 20 when they play host to the Philadelphia 76ers.
