Zion Williamson Will Miss Start of Season Due to Injury Again, Which is Extremely Worrying
By Liam McKeone
Zion Williamson is a rare player. He is extremely fun to watch and extremely good. Most NBA players are either one or the other, for different reasons. He's in the same category as guys like Stephen Curry and on-the-court Kyrie Irving; their athletic feats astonish as they rack up huge stats.
We caught a glimpse of a fully-realized Zion last year. His efficiency was insane. There were very few players in his stratosphere in how easily he scored, especially in isolation situations. We laugh about calling anybody the second coming of prime Shaq, but if anyone can reach that level, it's Zion. That's how good he is, and then we all get to collectively enjoy highlight videos like "Ten Minutes of Zion Williamson DUNKING EVERYTHING!"
As has always been the case, the only obstacle between Zion and a great career is injuries. One does not need a doctor to tell you that. The eye test suggests it is impossible for a man of his size to leap as high as he does. So far, the laws of physics have won out. Zion has a lengthy injury list already and the news broke today that he will miss the start of the 2021 season with a lingering injury from the offseason.
David Griffin says Zion Williamson said surgeons reviewed scans and he is cleared for the next step.
— Andrew Lopez (@_Andrew_Lopez) October 14, 2021
“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.
It is obviously of great concern that the young star has suffered this many injuries already. It is of even greater concern that the most serious of his ailments-- a torn meniscus in 2019 and this offseason's foot issues-- were lower-body injuries suffered outside the grind of the regular season. To add to the fire, it doesn't seem like the Pelicans have managed these injuries super well considering how inconsistent these updates have been coming in and the fact that the surgery Zion needed back in September was surprise to everyone. I mean, just look at how team president David Griffin attempted to walk back his comments about this year's injury to press today.
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
It's worrying. It's worrying that Zion has these injuries and it is worrying that it feels like the internal dysfucntion for the Pelicans is leaking into the public.
I'm not a Pelicans fan, but I do want Zion to succeed. The NBA will be that much more fun to watch if he's on the court, doing his thing. Organizational ineptitude will hinder that as much as injuries will.
Get better, Zion. So we can see you dunk everything.