NBA commissioner Adam Silver is not thinking of punishing the New Orleans Pelicans and the Memphis Grizzlies for sitting out top rookies Zion Williamson and Ja Morant in the 2019 NBA Las Vegas Summer League.
Williamson is not expected to play for the Pelicans again this summer. Morant, the second overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, has also not seen action for the Grizzlies because he underwent a minor knee surgery last month.
According to Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe, Silver has already spoke to Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations David Griffin about the status of Williamson. The NBA commissioner reportedly understood why New Orleans had to keep the first overall pick away from Summer League action.
Silver said he spoke with New Orleans GM David Griffin and understood why Zion was shut down for the summer league. Said he isn't concerned about prominent rookies (Williamson, Morant) sitting out summer league with injury. #NBA
— gary washburn (@GwashburnGlobe) July 10, 2019
There were high expectations on Williamson's summer league debut on Friday. He made several thunderous dunks, but the game against the New York Knicks eventually turned into his first and last appearance in the summer league. He sat out of the second half of the match after getting a knee-to-knee hit in the first half.
The team eventually ruled Williamson out of the rest of the summer league, announcing that the former Duke University standout suffered a knee bruise. According to Malika Andrews of ESPN, Williamson confirmed that the knee injury is nothing serious, and that the decision to sit him out is “precautionary.”
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