Zion Williamson and the Pelicans hoped that Thursday would mark the All-Star forward’s return to full participation in practice, but the 21-year-old experienced some soreness in his right foot during his recent ramp-up process. As a result, Williamson did not practice. New Orleans will monitor the soreness in the coming days, as the team travels to Texas for a two-game road trip against Dallas and Houston.
“It’s part of the process,” Pelicans first-year head coach Willie Green said after practice of Williamson, who underwent offseason right foot surgery. “When you’re dealing with injuries, when you ramp up some, there’s a possibility you can get a little soreness, which he’s dealing with now… Hopefully the soreness goes away in a few days, and he can get back to work.”
Asked about the balance of trying to get a key player back on the floor in order to win games but also having patience, Green said, “It’s more important to be patient. We’re talking about someone’s career, and any time you’re dealing with that aspect of professional sports, that is important. That’s how we’re looking at this, being diligent with how we’re going to get him back on the floor.”
Green acknowledged that the process to return to the lineup from an injury can be difficult mentally for a player, but that Williamson must keep going through the requisite steps in order to get back in uniform.
“It’s frustrating,” Green said. “It’s something he’s been going through, and something he’s been working his tail off to come back from. He understands though that this is a part of it. He’s just got to keep getting past these hurdles.”
Other Pelicans news from Thursday:
It’s exceptionally rare for any NBA game to tip off later than 8:30 p.m. local time, which made the Dec. 17 matchup between Milwaukee and New Orleans an oddity when the league released the 2021-22 schedule in August. Bucks-Pelicans in the Smoothie King Center was originally slated as a 9 p.m. tip, but on Thursday, the NBA announced that it will shift the interconference game to a more conventional start time of 7 p.m. ESPN will no longer televise the game nationally, with Bally Sports New Orleans now providing the exclusive TV broadcast.