Pelicans Injury Report: Is Zion Williamson Playing vs Victor Wembanyama and Co? Injury Prone All-Star’s Health is a Concern Ahead of All-Star Weekend

The New Orleans Pelicans played without their superstar, Zion Williamson, last night. The young forward was sidelined due to a left foot bone contusion. The Pelicans won the match against Houston, but given Zion’s health issues, his absence is always concerning.

In the latest injury update, the team upgraded Williamson to questionable for the Spurs vs Pelicans clash tomorrow.

By now, everyone has become quite familiar with Zion and his affinity for injuries. Or rather, injuries seem to love targeting the 23-year-old. The first year with the league saw him out with a torn meniscus. Since then, not a year has passed without the 2x All-Star sidelined with an injury.

Season 2 of Zion Williamson had an early close with a fractured thumb and he missed the entire third year due to a Jones fracture in the right foot. In the 2023-24 season, he missed relatively less time with a strained right hamstring to start with. It was only towards the end of last year that we saw him sidelined with an ankle injury and illness.

2024, though, shows a persistent list of quad and foot issues for ‘Zanos’. Although Zion was a partial participant in the practice session, he still has the ‘questionable’ tag on him. If New Orleans decides to sit him out, Jonas Valanciunas and Naji Marshall will probably see themselves with longer minutes on-court.

But will his nagging injury issues keep him away from a third All-Star appearance?

Will the recent injury keep Zion Williamson away from a possible All-Star stint?

While many hoped Zion would be part of the West’s All-Star reserves, they had to be disappointed. The list, unfortunately, does not include Williamson. When he played for Duke, people in and around came to watch the big guy and his explosive dunks. It was something no one had ever seen before.

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The same hype surrounding the North Carolina native followed into the NBA. But there was that ever-present issue of injury. Zion’s health has been a point of concern (and criticism) for many since his deep knee bruise in 2017 when he played with the AAU team. Analysts and basketball pundits thoroughly dissected this when the Pelicans selected him as their first pick in the 2019 draft.

Yet, a year after his rookie season, the injury-riddled Williamson was selected for his first NBA All-Star game. If that wasn’t enough to satisfy the skeptics, he once again got the nod for his second All-Star appearance (2022-23) after missing the entirety of the previous season.

Although he couldn’t take the floor for the said game, it’s become quite clear that Zion Williamson does not see injuries as an excuse to slack off. Seeing that Commissioner Silver can select injury replacements for the All-Star game, it is highly unlikely Zion’s name would be on that list either.

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