Zion Williamson has looked spectacular in the preseason thus far for the Pelicans. While that has to come with the caveat that is “it’s the preseason,” it has only built even more hype for his upcoming rookie season.
His final exhibition outing was scheduled for Friday in New York, where there was surely going to be plenty of attention from the media to his visit to Madison Square Garden, the building the Knicks had long hoped he would play his home games. However, on Thursday the Pelicans announced that Williamson was dealing with right knee soreness and would not be playing in Friday’s game.
Roster update: Zion Williamson is listed as out with right knee soreness for the team’s final preseason game against the Knicks
— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) October 17, 2019
Not only is Williamson not playing, but the top overall pick didn’t even make the trip to New York with the team, staying back in New Orleans to have further testing and evaluation at the facility, with further updates to come.
Hopefully this is just a precautionary measure from the Pelicans, as there’s little to no upside in playing Zion through any kind of pain for the final preseason game. That said, any time there’s knee soreness one has to have at least some mild concern, but we’ll learn more about an official diagnosis in the near future.
