It was supposed to be a playoff-contending season right out of the gate for the New Orleans Pelicans. They made the hugetrade to acquire Dejounte Murray from the Atlanta Hawks in hopes of bolstering their positioning in the vaunted West. Instead, they’re ten games in, and their roster is decimated by injuries to a handful of key players, including Zion Williamson.
Pelicans Injury-Plagued Season Continues To Wipe Out Roster
Zion Williamson’s Injury Another Punch to the Pelicans Gut
CJ McCollum, Herb Jones, Jordan Hawkins, Murray, and Zion are all out of the lineup due to injury. Trey Murphy III was also on the Pelicans injury list. However, he returned to the lineup against the Brooklyn Nets on Monday—his season debut. Murray’s injury happened in the preseason, and he has not played a single game yet. McCollum and Jones have missed the last seven games, Hawkins the previous three of four, and will continue to miss more games over the next week. And now Williamson, according to ESPN senior writer Shams Charania, is expected to miss four-to-six weeks.
“The Pelicans are bracing for him to be out about four to six weeks,” Charania reported. “His return will be based on rehab and how that treatment goes on that hamstring strain.”
If this Pelicans injury-plagued season ever gets going in the right direction, it may not happen until around Christmas or early in the new year. Murray’s return timetable is also four-to six-weeks. Zion’s injury is a hamstring strain, and he has only played once in the Pelicans last five contests. The expectations were high for the Pelicans going into the season. Murray’s acquisition and Zion’s physical transformation heightened those expectations. Never has he looked in the shape he’s currently in. His offseason development was undertaken in hopes he could evade frequent injuries. So far, it has not fleshed out that way.
Can New Orleans Count on Zion This Season?
The Western Conference is a war zone (ten teams have winning records). By the time Zion is healthy and ready to return to play, it’s possible that the Pelicans might already be out of it. It doesn’t help that Murray is also out indefinitely. What about when Zion does return, though? How long will that last? And where will the Pelicans be in the standings when that time comes? More questions surround the Pelicans than answers.
What could strike some hope is that due to Zion’s physical transformation, his hamstring issue could potentially be his only major injury concern this year. That’s the hope, anyway. If he continues to be in and out of the lineup, the Pelicans don’t stand much of a chance. Even though a pairing of Brandon Ingram and Murray could win some games, it’s hard to picture New Orleans making a playoff run sans a fully healthy Zion.
Call it a severe case of bad luck, but the Pelicans really drew the short straw this season. Maybe the chances of a team pushing through have a higher ceiling if only one star is down and out. Injuries to multiple stars and other key rotation players all simultaneously—that’s another animal. On paper, the Pelicans have so much talent and potential. Right now, they’ve been robbed by injuries. We will eventually find out if New Orleans can make up for the lost minutes and lost games. Getting Zion and Murray back will be instrumental in a saved Pelicans season.
