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Andrew LopezESPN
New Orleans Pelicans rookie forward Zion Williamson was cleared to play for the team and started in Thursday night’s NBA restart game against the Utah Jazz.
Coach Alvin Gentry told reporters that Williamson had to go through pre-game warm-ups before the team made a decision.
Williamson appeared on the court shortly after Gentry relayed the news, sitting in a chair next to the court for about five minutes before beginning a brief warm-up routine. He drove to the basket multiple times, then shot a few free throws, and then missed a series of 3-point corner kicks, shooting his first air ball before eventually making one.
Then he returned to the bench, watched the video for a few minutes, and retired to the locker room.
When Williamson returned in January from a knee injury that sidelined him for the first 43 games of the season, the team used similar terminology to describe his playing limitations. Williamson played 18 minutes in his first game, checking after a 17-point explosion in the fourth quarter of his debut and just under 21 minutes on his second outing. He averaged 30.1 minutes per game in his five contests after that.
Williamson left the team for a family medical emergency on July 16 and did not return until eight days later. Once he returned to the NBA campus, he was quarantined for four days, which put him 12 days without team activity.
He was officially included in the team’s injury report as questionable (overhaul).
In 19 games this season, Williamson averaged 23.5 points and 6.5 rebounds per game.
Information from ESPN’s Tim Bontemps was used in this report.
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