As the New Orleans Pelicans were doing the last push to get in the play-in tournament, bad news came when the team announced that Zion Williamson will be out for an indefinite period of time with a fractured finger in his left hand.
Zion Injury Update: pic.twitter.com/DPY2RSJq0x
— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) May 7, 2021
After the statement was released, the team held a press conference where the Pelicans General Manager David Griffin expressed his belief that the injury was avoidable and that Zion was already playing through another injury in his right hand.
“We told the NBA through any means available to us… that the way they [the refs] were officiating Zion was going to get him injured and, quite frankly, he’s injured now because of the open season that there’s been on Zion Williamson in the paint. He has been absolutely mauled in the paint on a regular basis.”
For Griffin, the injury is an accumulation of the contact absorb during several games and on Thursday, after the game against the Golden State Warriors, Zion told the coaching staff about a soreness he was feeling on his hand.
In late April after a Pelicans’ loss against the Denver Nuggets, Williamson was asked about the no-calls from the officials especially the one that decided the game when Nikola Jokic blocked his attempt for a dunk to which he responded:
“I gotta earn my respect, I’m only in Year 2. Gotta get a couple more years under my belt and hopefully, things change with that.”
Williamson, a former first pick overall in the 2019 NBA Draft, has made a jump from his rookie season that gave him his first selection to the All-Star. This season, he’s averaging 27.0 points, 7.2 rebounds and 3.7 assists in 33.2 minutes per game.
As for the free throws, he’s fourth in the league with 8.7 attempts per game, only behind Joel Embiid (11.2), Giannis Antetokounmpo (9.7), and Trae Young (8.8).
Currently, the Pelicans are in the eleventh seed with a 30-36 record and looking to get into the play-in tournament with six games left in their schedule.
