New Orleans Pelicans star Zion Williamson's return from foot surgery recently hit another setback when it was announced that the bone in his right foot wasn't healing as hoped. The Pelicans decided it would be prudent to scale back his rehab in order to an attempt to help the healing process.

It's unclear just when Williamson could return this season, if he does at all. It's not hard to assume at this point that we just won't see the Pelicans star at all in 2021-22, and some may go as far as thinking he won't play another game for New Orleans.

However, ESPN's Andrew Lopez says the Pelicans don't view this as a season-ending setback. Here are more details on their outlook on the situation:

Related NewsArticle continues below
New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson (1) watches his team from the bench as they play the Minnesota Timberwolves in the fourth quarter at Target Center.
Pelicans rumors: What Zion Williamson lottery decision means for trade talks
cavaliers, jarrett allen, cleveland cavaliers
1 player Cleveland Cavaliers must trade in 2025 NBA offseason

*Watch NBA games LIVE with fuboTV (click for free trial)*

It's no surprise that the Pelicans are trying to remain optimistic about their franchise star. Losing Zion for an entire season would be an unmitigated disaster, so the team isn't going to rush to judgment on anything here and will hope things will improve with more rest.

Still, it's only natural for Pelicans fans to be pessimistic about this whole situation, which has been a mess from the start. Who can forget David Griffin claiming Zion would be ready for the start of the season? Even Zion Williamson himself said that would be the case. Now, here we are about one-third of the way in, and there's no season debut date in sight.

Meanwhile, New Orleans is 8-21 so far in 2021-22. That's the worst record in the Western Conference. There could come a time where it's determined that it's not even worth bringing Williamson back, but we're not at that point yet.