New Orleans Pelicans rookie phenom Zion Williamson has not played a game yet this season, as he has been sidelined as a result of undergoing surgery to repair a torn meniscus.

The good news is that Williamson seems to be making great progress.

Pelicans general manager David Griffin told ESPN New Orleans 100.3 on Friday that the big man is “getting better literally every day” and that “he's progressing exactly as we had hoped he would.”

As for an exact return date, Griffin would not go into that much detail, but he said that Williamson is on track to make his regular-season debut in eight weeks.

“We're really optimistic, and most importantly, Zion is really excited and that's where we want him to be,” Griffin said.

New Orleans isn't so much worried about the physical part of Williamson's return as it is about the mental side of things, which is why the Pels will be putting Williamson through mental reps to get him back up to speed after their current road trip.

“The physical part is easy for him,” Griffin said. “He has an incredibly high basketball IQ. He loves being a teammate and getting better. He's really rare among truly elite young players in that he enjoys the process of getting better. He loves the process of learning the game.”

The Pelicans selected Williamson with the No. 1 overall pick of the NBA Draft back in June.

However, Williamson has already experienced a pair of incidents with his knee since being drafted, and last February while at Duke, he suffered a knee injury after his shoe exploded in a game against North Carolina.