The New Orleans Pelicans will have to find a way to extend their season on Friday without the help of Zion Williamson.
The star forward suffered a hamstring injury in the loss to the Lakers and has already been ruled out of Friday's winner-take-all showdown with the Kings, the team announced Wednesday afternoon. He's out at least two weeks, which would likely rule him out full for a first-round series should the Pelicans advance. ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski was first to report the news.
Williamson was dominant in Tuesday's 110-106 loss to the Lakers, driving to the basket for his 40th points of the night and tying the game at 95 before hobbling off the court in clear discomfort with a little over 3 minutes remaining. He threw a towel to the floor before heading back to the locker room and did not return.
Head coach Willie Green spoke briefly about the injury after the game but had few details, indicating that imaging tests were scheduled for Wednesday morning.
"It was tough to see him go down," Green said Tuesday evening. "You know, we’re all praying and hoping that he’s OK, but he was battling. He was going, and the team was just right there with him, so it’s tough."
The injury is possibly the most frustrating yet for a player who was making his postseason debut this week. The Pelicans are in the play-in tournament for the third consecutive year with the former No. 1 overall pick missing all of those games, as well as a first-round series against the Suns two seasons ago.
Williamson missed the second half of last season with a hamstring issue.
The Pelicans have now dropped two consecutive games, both to the Lakers, that would've guaranteed a spot in the NBA's postseason. Despite going 49-33 and finishing on the No. 7 line in the Western Conference, the play-in format requires the 7 and 8 teams to win at least one more game. The Lakers now advance as the No. 7 seed and face the Denver Nuggets in the first round. The Pelicans will get another chance at home on Friday when they host the Kings, who took down the Warriors in the 9-10 matchup.
The Pelicans are now the second No. 7 seed to lose a play-in game along with the Heat a year ago, which bounced back for a run to the NBA finals. The Pelicans appear to have gotten the ideal matchup, having beaten the Kings five times already this season, with Williamson active in four of those games. But should they lose, New Orleans would make history in a bad way by being the first 7 seed in the play-in format to miss the playoffs entirely.
The game on Friday will tip off at 9 p.m. (central) at the Smoothie King Center and will be broadcast on TNT.
