The New Orleans Pelicans are enjoying one of their best winning stretches of a frustrating season, but they still managed to draw the ire of the SportsTalk desk in the process.
The ire stemmed from the team's decision to sit Zion Williamson for Wednesday's game against the Mavericks. WWL's Mike Detillier and Charlie Long took the team to task for playing Williamson on the road, and sitting him at the Smoothie King Center, where he's appeared in just 3 of the team's 22 games.
“My thing is, if I’m paying my hard-earned money before the season, and a big part of that is I wanted to watch Zion, and now you play him on an away game and you pull him from this game," Detillier said. "OK, somebody’s got to have some form of common sense, that if that was gonna be the plan all along, you reverse it. You don’t play him against the Bulls, you play him against the Mavs. Are they tone-deaf completely?”
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The good news is that Williamson is available to be rested at all. The Pelicans currently sit at 10-32 and Zion has missed 33 of those games, mostly due to injury. One of those games was due to a team-imposed suspension after he reportedly arrived late for a team flight on the most recent road trip. Zion had a successful return to action with 16 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 5 steals in a 1-point loss to the juggernaut Celtics, then put in 21 points, 9 assists and 7 rebounds in a win over the Bulls.
It's likely we see the Pelicans continue to rest their oft-injured superstar on one half of future back-to-back sets.
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The Zion-less Pelicans did take down a shorthanded Mavericks squad 119-113 in front of the home crowd, marking the first time all season they've won 3 of 4 games. Point guard Dejounte Murray scored 30 while Trey Murphy III added 24 points and 10 rebounds as he continues his ascension to an All-Star caliber wing. Murphy has also connected on an astounding 51 consecutive free throws, building on a new franchise record.
“It just, the whole cosmetic part of this," Detillier continued. "It don’t look good, and again, whoever came up with this convoluted deal, it makes zero sense to cheat your fans that are paying their hard-earned money and they wanted to watch Zion and you play him on an away game instead. It makes zero, zero sense."
Barring any other surprise injuries or absences, Zion should be back in the lineup on Friday when the Pelicans host the scuffling Utah Jazz (10-29) and look to get on their first 3-game winning streak of the year.