The New Orleans Pelicans said Zion Williamson left the club on Thursday to attend to an urgent family medical matter.
The Pelicans said Williamson intends to meet with the team in the Orlando area for the season restart, but the club did not specify when it could return or if it will miss any of the remaining eight games in the regular season.
Williamson will have to be quarantined again when he returns to Central Florida, a period that will last at least four days and could be significantly longer if not examined daily during his absence from the team.
“Once we know more about Zion’s specific circumstances, we will determine his reentry protocol according to our rules,” said NBA spokesman Tim Frank.
The Pelicans resumed the season on July 30 against Utah, followed by a clash with the Clippers two days later.
“We fully support Zion’s decision to leave the NBA campus to be with his family,” said Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations David Griffin. “Out of respect for the Williamson family, we will have no further comment at this time.”
Williamson, who starred in a season at Duke, averaged 23.6 points and 6.8 rebounds in 19 games this season after missing New Orleans’ first 44 games while recovering from arthroscopic preseason knee surgery. New Orleans is 10-9 with Williamson in the lineup and 18-27 without him.
The Pelicans are 3 ¹ / ₂ games behind Memphis for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. But there is also a chance to qualify for the playoffs by finishing ninth and within four games of the eighth seed. In that case, the ninth-place team would have to beat the eighth-place team in two consecutive games to advance to the NBA playoffs.
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