Zion Williamson free to play
Zion Williamson generated one of the biggest buzzes of any rookie coming out of college that we had seen in years when he was drafted by the Pelicans last year. The 2019 first overall pick had some restrictions placed on him in January when he returned from a knee injury, but those have been lifted heading into the new campaign.
“Me and [Pelicans] coach [Stan] Van Gundy have talked and from what I know now, there are no restrictions. None,” Williamson said, via ESPN.
“Of course. I love to play basketball. With no restrictions? Why wouldn’t I love that?” he said when asked whether he was happy about possibly getting to play more minutes.
Pelicans head coach Stan Van Gundy also told reporters that the second-year player has no limitations in practice either, as the team gets set to start the 2020-21 season later this month. According to Van Gundy, Williamson had no issues passing his conditioning test.
“He and Nickeil [Alexander-Walker] probably did theirs the easiest,” Van Gundy added. “I thought in practice he gave really, really good effort as did everybody. It’s all been positive so far.”
During his rookie season, Williamson only managed to feature in 24 games but the COVID-19 pandemic also played a role in that as the season was ultimately shortened. When he did manage to play though, he was impressive averaging 22.5 points per game, 6.2 rebounds per game and 2.1 assists per game.
Williamson is hoping he can stay healthy during the upcoming campaign as he knows he can be a difference maker for the Pelicans.
“I want to show that I’m a basketball player. I’ll do whatever the team needs me to do on offense or defense no matter what it is to win. I’m just a competitor,” Williamson told reporters, via ESPN.
“When I’m healthy and competing, I’m just a different kind of player. I think that’s the player everyone fell in love with.”
The Pelicans struggled last season without Williamson in the lineup, finishing the regular season with a 30-42 record and missing out on the playoffs for the second consecutive year. Williamson knows that New Orleans has the potential to do damage in the competitive Western Conference, but will have to make sacrifices in order to become legitimate contenders.
“If we want to be winners, we have to do things outside the norm or uncomfortable for us. That’s where being professional comes into play,” Williamson said.
“Losing is just not fun. It’s needed because it makes you better. What don’t break you will make you. That’s a part of ups and downs. But if we want to win, we have to remember what we’ve been through and stay steady onto the winner’s mindset.”
New Orleans inked Brandon Ingram to a five-year maximum contract extension earlier in the offseason, as they look to build the franchise around Ingram and Williamson. New Orleans has never won an NBA championship since the franchise began to play in 2002 and have only been past the firth round of the playoffs twice in their history. Fans have plenty to be excited about it these days though, as long as Williamson can stay healthy long enough to make the impact they so desperately want to see.
