Pelicans' Season Goes from Disaster to Worse With Latest Zion Williamson Injury

Zion Williamson's injury all but ends the New Orleans' Pelicans season.

Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images

Zion Williamson missed eight games earlier this season with a hamstring injury. The New Orleans Pelicans are no stranger to Williamson and his lower-body injuries, so they were happy that his absence was only limited to two weeks. Their star power forward played in five of their last seven games, only missing games that were on the second night of a back-to-back due to injury managements. Until hours before Tuesday's clash against the Timberwolves, Williamson was expected to suit up with no injury designation.

Then, a very familiar injury update from ESPN's Shams Charania dropped. Williamson suffered a right adductor injury, will be re-evaluated in three weeks, and is expected to miss "extended time," per Charania.

Pelicans' Season Is Essentially Over After Latest Zion Williamson Injury

The Pelicans already have the worst record in the NBA with 3-18. Dejounte Murray is sidelined, Jordan Poole has been out for over four weeks, Herb Jones has missed five straight games, and Trey Murphy is dealing with an elbow injury. Things will likely get worse before they will improve, especially with two tough matchups against the Minnesota Timberwolves coming up this week.

Williamson has already missed more than half of the Pelicans' games this season. If this persists, this will be the fifth time in seven seasons that has been the case. Williamson only played 30 games last season, and he is trending towards yet another lost season. If he comes back in a month (an optimistic timeline for any player who will be re-evaluated in three weeks), we will already be at the 37-game mark of the season. Williamson will have missed 27 of those games, and the Pelicans will likely not have double-digit wins.

The Pelicans are already stuck between a rock and a hard place. Since they owe their first-round pick, they don't have much of an incentive to tank. At the same time, it's obvious that this team is not a winner even with Williamson healthy. They are 1-9 in the games he has played in, after all. The Pelicans obviously can't delude themselves into waiting for Williamson's return and trying to be competitive.

Does Williamson have any trade value? If he returns and plays for a few weeks without any injury setbacks, could a team talk themselves into trading for him? Perhaps that is the Pelicans' only hope. Otherwise, they are headed for a miserable season in which they will likely have the worst record in the league without reaping the benefits of it with a high draft pick.