Latest injury setback with Zion continues frustration for Pelicans, fans – Crescent City Sports

All are past the point of frustration.

You feel for David Griffin.

You feel for Willie Green.

You feel for Zion Williamson.

I feel for New Orleans Pelicans fans.

God knows Zion Williamson wants to play basketball.

He just can’t do it, at least not enough to help his team be what they’re capable of.

Sunday’s news that Williamson will now be absent several weeks into the All-Star hiatus after a recent practice session aggravated his right Achilles tendon injury is so disappointing on so many levels, but it comes as no great surprise to so many .

As brilliant as Williamson is when he plays, he just can’t stay sane long enough to play enough.

For the past few years, we’ve talked about what the Pelicans can be if they can ever get all of their assets on the ground at once for an extended period of time.

The only thing that has happened over a long period of time is that the best players, the real values, couldn’t play together.

Consider that Williamson, Brandon Ingram and CJ McCollum, the team’s three stars, have only played 10 games together this season.

Is there a breaking point when the Pelicans say enough is enough with Williamson?

It’s hard to understand given how invested the franchise is in him and how talented he is.

Think what the Pelicans are with Williamson and what they are without him?

In 29 games played this season, Williamson is averaging 26.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game while shooting 60.8 percent from the field.

In his young career, Williamson averaged 25.8 points, 7.0 rebounds and 3.6 assists while shooting 60.5 percent from the field.

The number doesn’t lie.

Neither do the other ominous numbers.

In four seasons, Williamson has played in 114 games, missing 169 games. Williamson has played in 40.3 percent of Pelicans games while missing 59.7 percent of those games. Those numbers get a lot worse.

When you add that to Ingram’s record of missing games, it presents a major problem, a real dilemma for a team investing in two very talented but often unavailable players.

Since joining the Pelicans in 2019, Ingram has played 200 games and missed 83 games.

While that’s nowhere near the level of Williamson’s missed games, Ingram has played in 70.6 percent of games while missing 29.4 percent of games in New Orleans.

Ingram is back now and playing well.

In the muddled, hard-fought Western Conference, the Pelicans could end up between third and 12th place.

To make the playoffs and even avoid the play-in level, Ingram will need to stay healthy and play at a high level without Williamson.

Of course, we haven’t seen Williamson since January 2nd.

At this point we are lucky, maybe very lucky, to see him again on March 2nd. That could be an accurate statement if we are talking about April 2nd.

New Orleans is 6-14 since Williamson went down.

After Williamson went down, the Pelicans went down.

If Williamson gets back up, the Pelicans are likely to soar.

The question remains when will that be?

The frustration continues.