Photo Credit: Joe Murphy/Getty Images

Will Zion Williamson Sit Out The Entire Season?

In this year’s preseason, number one draft pick, Zion Williamson, injured his right knee, the same knee he suffered an injury on during his time at Duke. After a successful surgery, he was expected to miss around six weeks.

It has now been six weeks since Williamson underwent surgery to repair the torn lateral meniscus in his right knee, but according to the Pelicans’ latest injury reports, it doesn’t sound like Williamson is even close to return, as he hasn’t even begun any on court work, yet.

When asked about Williamson’ status by Christian Clark of the Times-Picayune, coach Alvin Gentry said:

“I don’t think it’s anything that can be rushed. I think it’s a time thing. Six weeks is what we said, but obviously, he’s making progress. When the time comes for him to start on court and do things like that, he will. It’s not anything that’s going to be rushed or any shortcut. It’s a matter of taking the time to make sure he’s fine.”

Gentry added that the Pelicans are going to be “overly cautious” reintegrating Williamson, who has watched from the sidelines as his team has gotten off to a 6-14 start.

“In these situations, you sometimes have to protect players from themselves,”

The ‘overly cautious’ is indeed worrisome for people who were hoping to see Williamson play this year, let alone this season. Even though Zion is ‘itching’ to make his comeback as soon as possible, the fact that he hasn’t been able to step on the court, makes it hard to believe that the Pelicans will actually play their star prospect this season.

With the team’s playoff chances dimishing, a Zion comeback this season is getting less and less realistic.