New Orleans Pelicans star Zion Williamson was once regarded as someone who could be the face of the NBA, but those days are long gone. Williamson’s stock has fallen so much, that one anonymous NBA executive told HoopsHype that they would only give up one first-round pick for him.
“Yet, as always, the success of the Pelicans hinges on the health of Williamson, who another NBA executive told HoopsHype he’d only consider trading one first-round pick to acquire due to his consistent durability concerns.”
Williamson has only played in six games this season for the 4-18 Pelicans and is currently on the sidelines due to a hamstring injury. Unfortunately, seeing the 24-year-old in street clothes has become a common occurrence at this point.
Williamson only played 24 games in his rookie season after the Pelicans selected him with the first pick of the 2019 NBA Draft. He then played 61 out of 72 games in the 2020-21 season, which led to optimism that he might well be able to stay relatively healthy moving forward.
In the following offseason, however, Williamson suffered a Jones fracture in his right foot. He was initially expected to be back for the start of the 2021-22 season but ended up missing that entire campaign.
Williamson returned for the start of the 2022-23 season, but he wouldn’t be on the court for too long. In January 2023, he suffered a hamstring injury after playing 29 games and missed the rest of the season with it.
At that point, it looked like Williamson was never going to be able to stay healthy for an extended period, but he proved his doubters wrong in 2023-24. He played 70 games that season, but the injury bug wouldn’t completely leave him alone.
Williamson suffered a hamstring injury in the Play-in Tournament game against the Los Angeles Lakers and missed the rest of the postseason. The two-time All-Star could only watch on from the sidelines as the Oklahoma City Thunder swept the Pelicans in the first round of the playoffs.
Williamson is now out again with a hamstring strain and it’s never a good sign when a player suffers that injury multiple times. NBA insider Shams Charania gave an update on the star’s medical status during an appearance on NBA Countdown in November and it wasn’t a positive one.
“I’m told that Zion Williamson is not close to a return,” Charania said. “He’s still a ways away and sources tell me he’s received multiple treatments on that hamstring strain. That’s become a chronic issue for him over the last few years… It’s typically a four-to-six-week injury with the grade level from what I’m told, but the Pelicans are bracing that for him, it could go longer than that mark, which would be beyond mid-December.”
Chronic injuries of any kind aren’t ideal, but a chronic hamstring problem might just be the worst of the lot. It would be a huge risk for any team to trade for Williamson, who is averaging 22.7 points, 8.0 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 0.7 steals, and 1.2 blocks per game this season, considering his medical status, even with how talented he is.
Some teams might take that gamble, though, especially the ones that are seemingly stuck in NBA purgatory. We came up with a mock trade in which the Charlotte Hornets land Williamson in a blockbuster deal. He hails from North Carolina and perhaps a return home would lead to a change in his fortunes.
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