The NBA had lined up a season-opening matchup between the reigning champion Toronto Raptors and the future of the NBA in Zion Williamson and his New Orleans Pelicans. While the countdown for that first game has already started, its main attraction won't be there to provide its glamour, now that he faces potential several weeks on the shelf with a knee injury.
The league and broadcasting partners Turner Sports and ESPN had planned to start out the season with fireworks, but those will unfortunately be dimmed by the absence of Williamson. Of course, TV executives can't make decisions based on potential injury:
“We can’t base things off the what-ifs,” said Ashley O’Connor, an ESPN executive who works with the NBA on scheduling, according to Joe Vardon of The Athletic.
The Raptors no longer have the allure of Kawhi Leonard, now that he has changed places and is bound to make his debut with the Los Angeles Clippers later that night, which put the burden on Williamson to carry the show. Even though he's only 19, there was good reason to do it:
“We were taking the opportunity to put New Orleans there to get Zion’s first game, and the Pelicans and their whole new team, on in Toronto,” said Thomas Carelli, vice president of broadcasting at the NBA. “And then you look at who else you want to feature in terms of great story lines throughout the first week, and we try to get as many of them as we could in the eight games we had to work with.”
Games will go on whether Zion is there or not, but the NBA will surely feel the effects of his absence, especially with four of the Pelicans' first five games of the season being televised by its partner networks.
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