New Orleans Pelicans star Zion Williamson is expected to make his return to the court Tuesday night against the Minnesota Timberwolves after missing the previous 27 games due to a left hamstring strain. The team has upgraded him to available after listing him as questionable following Monday’s practice.
It’ll be Williamson’s first time on the court since suffering the injury during a loss to the Cavaliers on Nov. 6.
Williamson’s 2024-25 season got off to a rocky start before he went down with the hamstring injury. He missed the Pelicans’ season opener against the Bulls due to an illness and looked sluggish for a few games while regaining his form. He played six games before his injury, averaging 22.7 points, eight rebounds and 5.3 assists while shooting 45.2 percent from the floor.
In a season ravaged by injuries to just about every prominent figure on the roster, Williamson’s absence has been especially damaging for the reeling Pelicans. Without Williamson on the floor, New Orleans is just 7-29 and in last place in the Western Conference.
“It’s very unfortunate. But as a team, we’re keeping our spirits up,” Williamson said while talking to the media on Nov. 22. “It’s a long season. Guys are starting to return, so that’s going to be great. Hopefully, in January, we’ll be in full stride.”
Williamson’s return probably won’t be enough to get New Orleans back in the postseason picture, but it will be crucial for the oft-injured superstar to prove he can remain healthy for the rest of the season. Despite playing a career-high 70 games last season, Williamson has already missed 207 regular-season games in his five-year career.
In particular, Williamson’s hamstrings have been a recurring issue that’s caused him to miss time each of the past few seasons. In 2022-23, Williamson missed the final 45 games of the regular season while recovering from a right hamstring strain. Last season, Williamson injured his left hamstring in the closing minutes of a Play-In Tournament loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. The injury forced him to miss the entirety of the Pelicans’ first-round playoff loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
This season, Williamson sat out of a Nov. 3 loss to Atlanta with what the team described as right hamstring tightness. A day later, the team changed his injury designation to right thigh soreness. Then, he injured his left hamstring in the loss against Cleveland two days later.
“I’m working on mobility. Strengthening different areas. There are a lot of things I can do to improve taking stress off that area,” Williamson said. “I don’t have the normal basketball body type. … We definitely take that approach when going into rehab.”
While Pelicans forward Brandon Ingram remains sidelined indefinitely due to a right ankle sprain, Williamson’s return should allow New Orleans to have a roster that’s as close to full strength as it’s been all season. When Williamson got hurt, Dejounte Murray, CJ McCollum, Herb Jones and Trey Murphy were all going through extended injury absences.
Since then, all of them have returned, though Murphy will be sidelined for Tuesday’s game against Minnesota due to a left ankle sprain. Murray and Williamson still haven’t played in a regular season game together.
Required reading
(Top photo: Amanda Loman / Getty Images)
