{"id":117292,"date":"2025-01-10T18:48:13","date_gmt":"2025-01-10T23:48:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=117292"},"modified":"2025-01-10T18:48:13","modified_gmt":"2025-01-10T23:48:13","slug":"pelicans-zion-williamsons-suspension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/01\/10\/pelicans-zion-williamsons-suspension\/","title":{"rendered":"Tardiness Earns Pelicans’ Zion Williamson Suspension"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s <\/span>as if<\/span> this season couldn’t get any rougher for New Orleans Pelican’s\u00a0<\/span>Zion Williamson<\/span><\/a>. Having just returned from his lengthy absence due to injury, Williamson has been forced out of the Pelicans matchup against the\u00a0<\/span>Philadelphia 76ers<\/span><\/a>\u00a0on Friday night. While the suspension is reportedly for a single game, the development only adds to Williamson’s tumultuous season.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tardiness Earns Pelicans’ Zion Williamson Suspension<\/h2>\n

Zion Williamson To Miss One Game for Pelicans For Lateness<\/h3>\n

New Orleans Vice President of Basketball Operations David Griffin announced earlier today\u00a0that Williamson’s suspension resulted from being late for the team flight. The news comes just\u00a0before the Pelicans kick off a game with the 76ers. This news also comes on the heels of\u00a0<\/span>injury news<\/span><\/a>\u00a0related to\u00a0<\/span>Herb Jones<\/span><\/a>, who was diagnosed with\u00a0a posterior labrum tear in his right shoulder. An MRI on Thursday found the diagnosis. Jones has already missed significant time this season and will now miss a second stint of games.<\/span><\/p>\n

As for Zion, he will only miss Friday’s game and is expected to resume playing on Sunday when the Pelicans visit\u00a0<\/span>Boston\u00a0<\/span><\/a>to<\/span> face<\/span> the Celtics.\u00a0<\/span>Griffin’s statement via NBA.com<\/span><\/a>\u00a0spoke of accountability and team standards, which Zion understands.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis one game suspension is a result of failing to meet our team standards. His dedication to this organization is of paramount significance to us and to him. He has taken accountability for his actions and reaffirmed that commitment to the team today. I\u2019m confident he will continue to evolve positively on and off the floor.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Zion returned in thunderous fashion after his absence this week against the Minnesota Timberwolves. He scored 22 points, six rebounds, and four assists in the 104-97 loss. He followed Griffin’s remarks with his own, acknowledging his mistake and highlighting the work he’s put into getting back on the floor with his teammates.<\/p>\n

\u201cI take full responsibility for this suspension. I\u2019ve worked extremely hard in rehab to get healthy to deliver for this team. There is no excuse for being late to team activities. I have apologized to Mrs. Benson and my teammates and coaches and I also owe an apology to the fans. I can and will be better as a teammate and member of this organization.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Season Gone Bad<\/h3>\n

It’s safe to say that the 2024-25 season for the Pelicans is finished. Heading into Friday night’s game in Philadelphia, New Orleans sits at the bottom of the Western Conference with no hope in sight. They’re 7-31 and have missed more man games than any other team in the league.\u00a0<\/span>Dejounte Murray<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>Trey Murphy III<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>Jose Alvarado<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>Brandon Ingram<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>Jordan Hawkins<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>CJ McCollum<\/span><\/a>, Williamson, and Jones have all been out throughout the year. Much of that time missed between the players happened collectively earlier in the season. The Pelicans were diminished entirely and deprived of bodies.<\/span><\/p>\n

With such a talented roster, the Pelicans should be jockeying for playoff positioning at the top of the conference. Unfortunately, this season crashed before it could take off. Wide speculation is that New Orleans will be major sellers at the trade deadline. Considering the trajectory the team is presently on, it makes sense.<\/p>\n

The Pelicans could very well look entirely different <\/span>after February 6th. What that means for Zion, Ingram, McCollum, or Murray remains to be seen. Unfortunately, for now, it’s time for the 76ers sans Zion.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s as if this season couldn’t get any rougher for New Orleans Pelican’s\u00a0Zion Williamson. Having just returned from his lengthy absence due to injury, Williamson has been forced out of the Pelicans matchup against the\u00a0Philadelphia 76ers\u00a0on Friday night. While the suspension is reportedly for a single game, the development only adds to Williamson’s tumultuous season. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5081,"featured_media":117293,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33,1608,62,3],"tags":[308,1934,1262,4112,4756,3854,4382,1684],"class_list":["post-117292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pelicans","category-basketball","category-nba","category-news","tag-brandon-ingram","tag-cj-mccollum","tag-dejounte-murray","tag-herb-jones","tag-jordan-hawkins","tag-jose-alvarado","tag-trey-murphy-iii","tag-zion-williamson"],"modified_by":"Aaron J Zacharias","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5081"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117292"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":117296,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117292\/revisions\/117296"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}