Zion Williamson has played in only 85 games in 3 NBA seasons since being the No. 1 draft pick in 2019. Injuries have plagued the young star, and it looks like that trend may not be ending anytime soon.
After missing all of last season, Pelicans fans were thrilled to finally see Williamson back on the court in this preasons. He underwent surgery to repair a broken fifth metatarsal in his right foot in the offseason of 2021, and was supposed to be ready for the start of the regular season last year. Unfortunately, Williamson never even played last season. He underwent additional procedures, had injections, but still suffered setback after setback. After 14 months and many rounds of rehab, he was finally back out there this preseason.
That is, until he rolled his left ankle in Wednesday’s matchup with the Spurs. He continued to play for an additional three minutes after rolling the ankle, but then left the game and went back to the locker room. The Pelicans and Williamson are calling the move “precautionary” and say that nothing is wrong with the ankle other than some minor soreness. At this point, Williamson is calling himself “day-to-day” but given the fickle nature of his previous injuries, we will believe it when we see it.
Managing Williamson’s load will be key to keeping him healthy this season and being “precautionary” is absolutely the right call, especially with any lower body injuries. If the ankle roll is truly just soreness, he won’t need more than a week to fully recover. If it’s a sprain, he may need a bit more time for the ligaments to strengthen after being stretched.
