It wasn’t the news Pelicans’ fans hoped for, but at least it was something.
If you’ve followed the team the past couple of months, hearing something more definitive about Zion Williamson’s return — or lack thereof — is much better than being strung along two weeks at a time hanging on to false hope.
Hearing the words “he will be re-evaluated in two weeks” on repeat was causing some understandable frustration among the fanbase.
A team that hasn't always been as transparent as it needs to be finally gave some clarity Friday.
Pelicans executive vice president David Griffin spoke to the media and said Williamson has not been cleared to practice and ruled him out for the play-in tournament, which begins Tuesday.
That also means, of course, that Williamson won’t play Sunday against the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Pelicans’ regular-season finale. As a result, the face of the franchise will finish the regular season having played in just 29 of the 82 games this season. He hasn’t played since the hamstring injury that sidelined him Jan. 2. It will be the third season of his four-year career Williamson has missed more games than he has played.
“I know it’s very disappointing for everyone,” Griffin said. "It’s disappointing for him. And it’s disappointing for his teammates. I think it’s just a matter of all of the objective metrics we can have on where he’s at and how he feels lining up. To this point, they haven’t.”
Williamson hasn’t spoken with the media since the injury. Other than him saying, “I hate not being out there with my teammates,” or "I'm feeling X percent right now," there probably isn’t a whole lot else for him to say anyway.
The best-case scenario is Williamson gets cleared for 5-on-5 practices and ready in time for the playoffs if the Pelicans make it that far. Much like late last season, they’ve shown they can compete without him. They’ve won nine of their last 11 games, resurrecting a season that looked to be headed straight down the drain. They are overwhelmingly better with him, as they showed in late December when they were at the top of the Western Conference standings.
Coach Willie Green has managed to keep the team afloat despite the uncertainty of how soon the team’s best player will return.
“Control the controllable,” Green said. “There are certain things we can control. Then there are things out of our hands. Those are the things you can’t spend a ton of time worrying about.
"I’ve said it before. It’s a part of the NBA. You look down the board and there are plenty of teams that deal with it.”
None quite like the Pelicans, though. Williamson, Brandon Ingram and CJ McCollum have played only 10 games together since McCollum was acquired in a trade in February 2022. Despite that, the Pelicans will be in the postseason for the second straight season.
“We always have the mentality of trying to make sure we’re the best for the people in the room, the people we know are going to play,” Ingram said. “I know it’s hard on him right now because I know he wants to be back on that floor playing.
"We just have his back. We can’t force the process. We know hamstring injuries are serious. We just have to continue to support hm while he rehabs and tries to get back. We’ve got to work with the people we have in the room and continue to see how we can get better whether he is playing or not.”
Ingram has been down a similar road this season. He dealt with a toe injury that lingered for longer than people thought it should have. But he just didn’t feel quite right to return.
According to Griffin, the reason Williamson hasn’t returned is similar.
“It’s more of like a hesitancy,” Griffin said. “I think we went though this before with Brandon Ingram. He said, ‘When I feel like me, I’ll play.’ You can see when someone is trusting it and confident. Zion’s not in that space right now.”
Ingram understands that.
“If he doesn’t feel 90 percent or 100 percent right, he might hurt something else thinking about that,” Ingram said.
In the meantime, the Pelicans will have to make do with what they have.
“We want Z back, for sure,” Green said. “But we can’t put a lot of time and focus into what-ifs. Right now, this is reality and that’s what we have to look at.”