Impact of Zion Williamson's injury on Pelicans: A timeline of his recovery and expected return date

Zion Williamson's hamstring injury has compounded issues for the New Orleans Pelicans. The former All-Star will remain out for at least two more weeks, after which he is scheduled for a re-evaluation.

On January 4, ESPN's senior NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Zion Williamson underwent an MRI and that he would be re-evaluated in three weeks. If, following the re-evaluation, Williamson takes another week to ramp up his fitness, we could see him in action as soon as the first week of February.

The Pelicans are already thin on scorers, with Brandon Ingram having sat out since November 25 with toe injuries. Williamson has been a major part of the Pelicans' breakout 2022-23 season and with him and Ingram both missing significant time, the team will have to dig deep to stay in contention.

Since the turn of the year, the Pelicans have logged a 2-4 record, with the two wins coming against teams with sub-.500 records.

Williamson provides the Pels with high-volume, high-efficiency scoring in the paint. He leads the league in points-in-the-paint (PITP) at 19.1 per game. Naturally, the Pelicans rank third in the league in PITP at 55.5 per game.

Zion Williamson's latest setback comes after he missed the entire 2021-22 NBA season with a foot injury. Williamson logged 61 games the season before that and, during his rookie season, played in just 24 games after suffering a knee injury.

When Williamson has been on the floor, however, he has proven to be worth the $193 million extension he signed in July last year. He has averaged 26.0 points per game on 60.8% shooting from the field.

Despite being ninth in the league in drives per game, Williamson is fourth in the league in points per game off drives. On 16.2 drives per game, Williamson is averaging 12.5 points per game with a 58.3% FG%.

Williamson's defensive rating of 111 is also the best of his short career so far, and he averages 1.1 steals per game. As of 13th February, Pelicans forward Zion Williamson is nowhere near a return and the hamstring injury he suffered has lingered significantly longer than expected. Adrian Wojnarowski's aforementioned report stated that the former Duke Blue Devil would be re-evaluated in three weeks, however, now, as reported by The Athletic's Shams Charania, Williamson has been side-lined through mid-March.

Pelicans' Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations, David Griffin, also spoke about Williamson's injury and a timeline of his return:

“I think we’re looking at multiple weeks past All-Star break (that Williamson will be sidelined),” Griffin said. What that looks like in terms of (exact) timeline (for his return), I really can’t tell you.”

In the meantime, the Pelicans have logged a 10-game losing streak, which has culminated in their record falling from 23-14 to 29-28. However, due to an already watered-down Western Conference, NOLA stands seventh despite its record. Pelicans’ PITP (points-in-the-paint) has dropped to eighth in the league in the last fifteen games and has dropped from third to fifth for the season. The return of Brandon Ingram has brought little relief, with the former Duke star averaging 23.9/5.0/6.4 on 44.2% from the field and 21.7% from three-point range. The Pels are 2-5 in the games he has played in since his return.

New Orleans Pelicans have an easy schedule during Zion Williamson's absence

Zion Williamson will miss approximately a month of play if he comes back on schedule.

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The Pelicans don't have too daunting of a schedule in January. The average strength of a team they will play until Jan. 31 is .522, where .522 is the average win percentage of all the teams they are scheduled to play.

In that context, Williamson's absence may not have too big of an impact on the Pelicans this month. Needless to say, however, they would be hoping for him to return as soon as possible.

Zion Williamson injury update

After suffering a hamstring injury against the Philadelphia 76ers in January, Zion Williamson be out for three weeks with a “right hamstring strain”, as per the MRI. The Pelicans were in the middle of making a push for playoff contention, but it seems less likely with Zion out.

The Pelicans superstar has been dealing with lower-body injuries since the preseason of his rookie year. Despite being a force to reckon with when he is healthy, constantly being sidelined due to injuries makes it difficult to watch.

In the 29 games that Zion did play in the 2022-23 NBA season, he averaged 26.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 4.6 assists on 60.8% shooting.