Brian Windhorst:Zion Williamson is ‘not close’ to returning

[Homer38]

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[sfernald]

Man, really sucks. He is just a fun player to watch. Sad for all.

[ProcessDoctor]

Shocked.

[okboomer]

Sad. Who will play more games in the NBA, Zion or Ben?

[ImSlower]

It's gotta be incredible stressful for the front office and coaching staff to value and plan for a player who is transcendently great for about a third of his career, but out or recovering during the rest. Zion's gotta be one of the five most electrifying performers on court when he's healthy - I mean that from a sheer entertainment perspective, though he's objectively a game-changer on court as well. And yet, he's such a colossal risk - look how great the Pelicans looked at the beginning of the season, and are now ruined without him.

[maxpower8888]

It will be such a shame if we don't get to experience what Zion could have been due to injury.

[DaddyCool19]

He slimmed down back to under 290 lbs I suppose. Should he maybe think about losing even more weight? Could that help reduce the stress on his body/injury risk? I guess even at 265lbs he would probably overpower 99% of his defenders.

[saltybs]

He slimmed down back to under 290 lbs I suppose. Should he maybe think about losing even more weight? Could that help reduce the stress on his body/injury risk? I guess even at 265lbs he would probably overpower 99% of his defenders.

forget slimming down to 265, he should be slimming down to 245 even if it means sacrificing his "gift" and being a more modestly talented player. he should have a long conversation with Shaun Livingston - not just about basketball, but about life in general. I imagine Shaun had a really great time in the last 5+ years of his career just being out there, playing, with his teammates. Doesn't Zion want that? I'd rather be a modestly-successful "starter quality" PF averaging 16 and 8 and playing until I'm 34 then be a superstar who only plays 35 games a year until I'm 26 then can't even find a team to take me because i can't pass a physical.

[Ballerhogger]

With them out of the Playoffs he won’t be back this season

[Jadoogar]

It's gotta be incredible stressful for the front office and coaching staff to value and plan for a player who is transcendently great for about a third of his career, but out or recovering during the rest. Zion's gotta be one of the five most electrifying performers on court when he's healthy - I mean that from a sheer entertainment perspective, though he's objectively a game-changer on court as well. And yet, he's such a colossal risk - look how great the Pelicans looked at the beginning of the season, and are now ruined without him.

it's so difficult to give someone like him a max contract. On the court, he's raises your ceiling and floor so he's definitely worth the money but it's so hard to count on him to be available.

If the pelicans wanted, they could easily trade him because some team will talk themselves into his theoretical version but it would hard for Pelicans to pull the trigger because that's the exact type of move that gets you fired.

[PlatinumState]

So its just gonna be like this every season? He played 29 games this year after missing all of last season. I suppose we should all prepare for the inevitable "zion injured" next december

Its weird cause they first said its a minor injury and hed be out 2-3 weeks, Im starting to think theyre being weirdly cautious with him

[MagicFan12345]

It's gotta be incredible stressful for the front office and coaching staff to value and plan for a player who is transcendently great for about a third of his career, but out or recovering during the rest. Zion's gotta be one of the five most electrifying performers on court when he's healthy - I mean that from a sheer entertainment perspective, though he's objectively a game-changer on court as well. And yet, he's such a colossal risk - look how great the Pelicans looked at the beginning of the season, and are now ruined without him.

it's so difficult to give someone like him a max contract. On the court, he's raises your ceiling and floor so he's definitely worth the money but it's so hard to count on him to be available.

If the pelicans wanted, they could easily trade him because some team will talk themselves into his theoretical version but it would hard for Pelicans to pull the trigger because that's the exact type of move that gets you fired.

Pelicans already gave Williamson a max contract last year and he would not be easily be traded since his contract is expensive, Pelicans can release Williamson without paying the rest of his contract in his new contract stipulations

[zshawn10]

Top 2 of that draft class; one is physically damaged, one is let's say a dummy

[Jadoogar]

It's gotta be incredible stressful for the front office and coaching staff to value and plan for a player who is transcendently great for about a third of his career, but out or recovering during the rest. Zion's gotta be one of the five most electrifying performers on court when he's healthy - I mean that from a sheer entertainment perspective, though he's objectively a game-changer on court as well. And yet, he's such a colossal risk - look how great the Pelicans looked at the beginning of the season, and are now ruined without him.

it's so difficult to give someone like him a max contract. On the court, he's raises your ceiling and floor so he's definitely worth the money but it's so hard to count on him to be available.

If the pelicans wanted, they could easily trade him because some team will talk themselves into his theoretical version but it would hard for Pelicans to pull the trigger because that's the exact type of move that gets you fired.

Pelicans already gave Williamson a max contract last year and he would not be easily be traded since his contract is expensive, Pelicans can release Williamson without paying the rest of his contract in his new contract stipulations

Idk, i think some team would definitely talk themselves into the potential of Zion. The goal of every team is to acquire a game changer like that, even if the probability is low. Like i would trade a significant package from the Raptors because we currently don't have any player with this level of potential.

[Wolfgang630]

He’s not coming for next year for sure

[Mavrelous]

It's Windhorst...

[indiegrind]

Im hoping this turns to a Joel Embiid story instead of a Greg Oden.

[NyKnicks1714]

It's Windhorst...

True but this is basically common sense. What are they going to do, bring him back with 5 games left in the season?

[Duke4life831]

So I just take it he’s out for the rest of the season. It’s one thing to constantly have lower body injuries, but when you add on that he really struggles to heal, really bad news.

[Mavrelous]

It's Windhorst...

True but this is basically common sense. What are they going to do, bring him back with 5 games left in the season?

They are in the mix for PO and with him they looked like one of the best teams in the league, so yeah, they'll bring him, it's hamstring strain, it takes time to heal, especially on heavy guys, and WCS he re-strains it, he sits for the offseason and it'll heal.