Zion Williamson can do everything he needs to be able to do on the basketball court, he said so himself. But he still won't be on the floor with the Pelicans during a play-in showdown against the Thunder this week.
Why? At this point, it's more of a mental hurdle than anything else.
“Physically, I’m fine," Williamson said this week, speaking publicly for the first time since a rehab setback suffered prior to the All-Star Break. "Now it’s just a matter of when I feel like Zion. I know the atmosphere I’d be entering based off the playoff experience."
It's likely an eyebrow-raising sentiment from a Pelicans fanbase frustrated by the star's absence and the struggles that have come along with it over the second half of the season. New Orleans was 23-14 when Zion last took the court on Jan. 2 and dropped all the way below .500 and out of the playoff picture completely before a run of nine wins in their final 12 games to secure the 9 seed and a home play-in game.
It's the same road the Pelicans traveled in 2022 when they defeated the Spurs and Clippers to move on to the full playoff bracket. If they get past the Thunder this year, they'll then travel to play either the Timberwolves or the Lakers. A loss to Oklahoma City would end New Orleans' season.
The Pelicans did get some positive news on the injury front this week with Jose Alvarado being cleared to return to on-court activities after missing the final 20 games of the season due to a right tibia stress reaction. He won't be available for the play-in games, but could return for a playoff series.
Related
Williamson pointed to "hesitancy" as he does certain things on the floor, and indicated one issue is the magnitude of the games. He doesn't want to get back on the floor in such a high-leverage situation and be a detriment to his team. It's possible that he could return in a playoff series should the Pelicans qualify for one -- which would come against the top-seeded Nuggets -- but even that is no guarantee.
“I can pretty much do everything, but it’s just a matter of the level that I was playing at before my hamstring," he said. "And I’m just a competitor. I don’t want to go out there and be in my own head and affect the team when I could just be on the sideline supporting them more, because I know myself. If I was to go out there, I would be in my head a lot. I would hesitate on certain moves, and that could affect the game.”
Related
It's the second consecutive season that Williamson availability has been a lingering crowd for much of the year. The difference this time around was the star forward playing at an elite level for 29 games with averages of 26 points, 7 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game. He was named an All-Star starter, and appeared on track to return prior to the All-Star break, but suffered a setback during 3-on-3 work. He missed the entirety of the 2022 season due to injury, and has only appeared in 114 of 308 possible games over his four seasons since the Pelicans drafted him No. 1 overall in 2019.
Williamson did strike back at the sentiment that he doesn't want to be on the floor.
“Sh** sucks. I don’t know how else to say it. It just sucks," he said. "I love this game. I say it over and over. For those people that think that I just want to sit on the sideline just to sit over there. I don’t know why people think that, but nah, it sucks. I just want to be playing basketball, for real.”
The Pelicans are a more formidable group with Zion on the floor. But they won't have that for the one (or two) biggest games of the season. When will Zion get back to feeling like Zion? As has been the case for a majority of his career, it's still a waiting game.
Related
