Zion Williamson has missed 31 games this season due to either injury or rest, and he missed his 32nd on Friday versus the Philadelphia 76ers. However, this absence had nothing to do with Williamson being banged up; rather, he sat out due to a team-issued suspension.
New Orleans Pelicans EVP of Basketball Operations David Griffin announced the suspension roughly two hours before tipoff of Friday’s game.
“This one game suspension is a result of failing to meet our team standards,” Griffin said in a statement. “His dedication to this organization is of paramount significance to us and to him. He has taken accountability for his actions and reaffirmed that commitment to the team today. I’m confident he will continue to evolve positively on and off the floor.”
Williamson issued a statement of his own, in which he acknowledged what led to the suspension, which was multiple instances of being tardy to team activities.
As Williamson noted, he recently rehabbed from a hamstring injury that had sidelined him for two months, only just making his return to the court on Tuesday. However, it ended up being a short return as he then sat out Wednesday’s game, due to what the team labeled as “reconditioning.” The team doesn’t yet want its star player competing in back-to-backs to further reduce the chances of Williamson re-injuring himself.
Thus, that one-game absence became a two-game absence. The Pelicans said that Williamson will rejoin the team on Saturday as it continues its road trip. New Orleans will play at the Boston Celtics on Sunday before a trip to Chicago to face the Bulls on Tuesday, and it will then return home for a four-game stint.
Williamson is a two-time All-Star and was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, but his career has been noteworthy just as much for the games he’s missed than what he’s actually done on the court. Following Friday’s game, Williamson will have played in just 191 of a possible 429 games since being drafted, meaning he’s missed over 55 percent of the Pelicans’ games.
Missing games has been a theme for New Orleans’ best players this season, as various injuries and ailments have led the team—which had 49 wins, the second-most in franchise history last season—to a dismal 7–31 record this year. That’s the second-worst mark in the NBA and the worst record in the Western Conference. Among the Pelicans’ five leading scorers, each has missed at least 13 games. Williamson was one of several Pelicans out on Friday, as will 20-point scorers Brandon Ingram (ankle) and Trey Murphy III (ankle), in addition to defensive ace Herbert Jones (shoulder).
When he’s been on the court, Williamson has been electric, and this year he is averaging 22.6 points, along with career highs with both 7.7 rebounds and 5.1 assists. In his brief return to the court on Tuesday, he had 22 points, six rebounds, four assists, and three steals in just 28 minutes of play as the Pelicans fell to the Minnesota Timberwolves, 104–97.
It’s a bit ironic that Williamson’s suspension just happens to come against a team with a star player who is in a similar boat. Joel Embiid has struggled to stay on the court throughout his NBA career, and the MVP winner will also sit out Friday’s contest due to a foot sprain.
Missing time isn’t the only link between Williamson and Embiid, as apparently being tardy is something they also have in common. Back in November, Sixers teammate Tyrese Maxey called out Embiid for being late “for everything” during a team meeting, for which the star center took accountability. That seemed to give the struggling Sixers a bit of a spark as they were 2–11 before Embiid was called out, and the team has gone 13–9 since then.
Given the way the Pelicans’ season has unfolded thus far after making the playoffs last year, the team is undoubtedly hoping this one-game setback for Williamson parlays into a turnaround for the team as a whole. The Pelicans are 11.5 games out of the No. 10 spot in the standings, which is the final NBA play-in position, but they still have more than half of the season to make ground.
