Pelicans All-Star power forward Zion Williamson will miss several additional weeks as he continues to recuperate from a right hamstring strain, per Christian Clark of NOLA (Twitter link).
As Clark notes, Williamson has already been shelved since first suffering the injury January 2. In his absence, New Orleans has cratered, going 6-14 in this current stretch without him. Though the Pelicans had occupied the upper echelons of the Western Conference standings when Williamson was healthy, the team has now fallen to the seventh seed, and is only 1.5 games clear of the No. 11-seeded Jazz.
Andrew Lopez of ESPN reports (via Twitter) that team president David Griffin has indicated Williamson was partaking in 3-on-3 work with the Pelicans of late, and re-aggravated the ailment in a practice. The 6’6″ big man is set to have his health reassessed by the team’s medical staff following the All-Star break.
Given that Williamson and Warriors All-Star point guard Stephen Curry will both definitely miss All-Star Weekend festivities next week in Salt Lake City, the NBA has named Timberwolves shooting guard Anthony Edwards and Kings point guard De’Aaron Fox to fill in as replacement All-Stars for the West.
As Clark tweets, Williams has missed far more games (169) than he has actually played (114) in his NBA career to date. Across his 29 healthy games, the third-year forward is averaging 26 PPG on .608/.368/.714 shooting splits. He’s also pulling down 7.0 RPG, 4.6 APG, 1.1 SPG and 0.6 BPG.