One of the biggest downsides of the NBA hiatus is that it pushed pause on New Orleans Pelicans phenom Zion Williamson's electric rookie season after it had already been delayed once due to injury. With so much uncertainty due to the coronavirus pandemic, it seemed like Williamson's debut campaign may even be cut short altogether.
As it turns out, the Pelicans will be a part of the NBA's restart plan in July (some believe the league made it a point to include them), and Williamson has been working hard on his game during quarantine. We all might just be in for quite a surprise:
“He's going to shock some people,” an anonymous source within the Pelicans said, via Tim Bontemps and Andrew Lopez of ESPN.
Even Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations David Griffin seems to agree. According to the high-ranking executive, Zion has done a commendable job keeping in shape despite the circumstances:
“Zion has been diligent about taking care of himself,” said Griffin. “He's in a good space physically and mentally.”
The Pelicans are one of the 22 teams invited by the NBA to participate in the Florida bubble. New Orleans entered the hiatus with a 28-36 record, which has them three and a half games outside the playoff picture in the Western Conference. Clearly, Zion's form during the restart will have a tremendous effect on his team's postseason hopes.
Having been recovering from knee surgery for the better part of his rookie campaign, Zion was able to suit up for just 19 games prior to the season suspension. There was no shortage of jaw-dropping moments during this brief run, though, with the first overall pick averaging 23.6 points (on 58.9 percent shooting), 6.8 rebounds, and 2.2 assists in just under 30 minutes per contest.
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