Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram and the New Orleans Pelicans are all in uncharted territory both individually and collectively. Williamson and Ingram are approaching their career highs in games played in a season. The Pelicans are approaching a rare 50-win campaign and will enter the NBA Playoffs with a level of expectation not known since the Chris Paul era. The two All-Stars are supposed to shoulder most of those burdens, but it looks more like they both need some extra encouragement before the postseason begins.
Willie Green has a great grasp on the team and will lean on the highest-paid players, but the Pelicans are exploring alternatives to a Williamson and Ingram-led offense. It worked, too. CJ McCollum and Trey Murphy III cooked the Miami Heat in the most recent road win. Williamson finished with four points and an injured Ingram (knee contusion) watched from the sidelines.
The third-year head coach had to put out a few fires before the national media's hot take artists fanned any flames regarding Williamson's lack of playing time in the second half.
“No, no. (Williamson) is, it was just the other guys in the game had it going. They had momentum. You try to leave those groups in. We thought about bringing (Williamson) back in but around the time he would usually come back, we were kind of putting the game away. That is what that was, and he totally understands it.”
Pelicans have Zion Williamson watching from bench, Brandon Ingram recuperating
Zion Williamson is averaging 22.3 points, 5.8 rebounds and 5.0 assists this season over 59 games. His career-high is 61 games played in 2020-21 under Stan Van Gundy. If the Pelicans are to have any postseason success, Williamson is likely going to have to soldier through more than 70 games. The mental aspect of pushing past that threshold cannot be understated. The same goes for a recuperating Ingram, who got the best possible results back from an MRI following a gruesome fall in Orlando.
McCollum mentioned in Miami how the team was helping Ingram through a tough time, encouraging him to be careful and not rush back before the knee feels right.
“We were all talking to him last night, trying to support him the best we can understanding the severity of what could have happened,” McCollum explained. “When we found out we were excited. We were telling him to take his time but obviously, we were happy that it wasn't something worse. We are going to hold it down for him while he is gone. Tonight (in Miami) we did that.”
Ingram has played in 63 games this season, the most since his rookie year (79). The Pelicans officially ruled out Ingram for two weeks after the MRI results were in, meaning he'd miss all but the last six regular-season matchups. He has been notoriously rusty after layoffs, so the hope is Ingram can return before the regular season is over.
Until then, all New Orleans can do is keep on encouraging the young duo. Williamson and Ingram represent the city's best chance at a title since the franchise relocated after all.
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