New Orleans Pelicans rookie Zion Williamson remains sidelined as he recovers from surgery on a torn meniscus, and there's a growing belief that he won't play until sometime in 2020 at the earliest. In fact, Reggie Miller claims that Zion could miss the entire year.
Miller issued his thoughts on Williamson's recovery via twitter on Wednesday night in response to a tweet about Zion sitting out the remainder of the season. Writes Miller:
"Said this November 21 during the Pelicans vs Suns game, only to be told by David Griffin the President of the Pels at Halftime “No No No, Zion will DEFINITELY be back mid December”, fast forward to December 3rd Mavs vs Pels I double downed and said again... Only to be told again, no no he’s coming back.. STOP the charade, trying to keep interest and more importantly the national TV games.. This young man will be the face of the franchise, let him heal and more importantly get in NBA SHAPE."
Following the surgery in late October, it was believed that Zion would be able to return to the court in 6-8 weeks time, but a late December debut now seems very unlikely. Naturally, head coach Alvin Gentry told reporters in early December that they are going to be "overly cautious" with their No. 1 overall pick.
ESPN's Andrew Lopez recently reported that the former Blue Devil has started doing some on-court work, including light walkthroughs with the team and spot shooting. Williamson, who averaged 23.3 points and 6.5 rebounds per game during the preseason, underwent surgery to repair the meniscus in his right knee approximately six weeks ago. In his lone season with the Blue Devils, Zion was awarded the AP Player of the Year in a landslide after posting 22.6 points, 8.9 rebounds, 2.1 steals and 1.8 blocks per game.