New Orleans Pelicans star Zion Williamson has suffered numerous injury setbacks this season, preventing him from suiting up at all in 2021-22. Reports recently surfaced that Zion won't play at all for the remainder of the campaign, but after his wild dunk went viral on Tuesday, many believed there could be a chance the Pelicans big man does take the court sooner rather than later.
Nonetheless, Williamson took a major step in the right direction on Wednesday, being cleared to do one-on-one work.
Willie Green says Zion was cleared to do 1-on-1 work today.
— Andrew Lopez (@_Andrew_Lopez) March 23, 2022
Here is a video of Zion getting in work. He's actually looking pretty spry and agile:
Zion’s first day doing one on one. pic.twitter.com/pQJ2e2IMBX
— Adam Ney (@sayneykid) March 23, 2022




As good as Williamson is looking, it makes zero sense for the Pelicans to rush him back. They will need time to ramp up his conditioning and with only 10 games left, it's going to be tough. New Orleans is certainly in the mix for the play-in tournament but the chances of Zion actually being ready by then are slim. After all, he hasn't even started doing full 5 on 5 work yet.
That being said, it's just promising to see the former Duke star moving around freely with no pain or discomfort. When you're throwing down dunks like this, you'd have to believe the Pelicans forward is feeling good:
Zion just posted this 👀 … that’s an easy 50 in the dunk contest. pic.twitter.com/KZNymNK3pL
— uSTADIUM NBA (@uSTADIUMNBA) March 23, 2022
If he keeps trending in the right direction, Zion Williamson should be back at full strength for 2022-23 to help the Pelicans make a postseason run.