Pelicans: Zion Williamson continuing rehab, conditioning

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Pelicans have ruled out Zion Williamsonfor Friday night’s game against the New York Knicks but havestopped short of providing a timeline for how much longer theAll-Star forward will be sidelined by his right hamstringinjury.

“After further evaluation, it has been determined that ZionWilliamson will continue his rehabilitation and conditioningregimen,” Pelicans executive vice president of basketballoperations David Griffin said in a statement Thursday evening. “Wewill continue to monitor his progression and updates will beprovided as warranted.”

The announcement comes a day after the Pelicans clinched a spotin the NBA postseason with a victory over Memphis that guaranteedthe team a top-nine finish in the Western Conference — good enoughfor at least a play-in spot. New Orleans (41-39) still could finishin the top six and go straight to the playoffs if it wins its lasttwo games and receives help in the form of losses by Golden State(42-38) or the Los Angeles Clippers (42-38).

Previous updates provided by the Pelicans said Williamson wouldcontinue his rehabilitation for multiple weeks before are-evaluation of his injury. The latest provided no such timelineor detail. The Pelicans are scheduled to practice on Saturdaybefore their regular-season finale at Minnesota on Sunday.

The injury-plagued Williamson has not played since leaving agame in Philadelphia on Jan. 3.

But if Williamson were able to return to form for the playoffsand remain healthy, his addition to the lineup would make thePelicans a more formidable postseason threat than theirregular-season record or seeding would otherwise indicate.

When the 6-foot-6, 280-pound Williamson has played, he’s beenamong the Pelicans’ most productive players, averaging 26 pointsand seven rebounds per game. In the 29 games he has played thisseason, New Orleans went 17-12.

Williamson has struggled to remain reliably healthy since beingselected first overall by New Orleans in the 2019 NBA draft.

Now in his fourth year as a pro, he has played in a total of 114games. He appeared in 61 games in his second NBA season, but thatwas the only season in which he played more than 30 games. Heplayed in just 24 games as a rookie because of a knee injury anddid not play at all in his third season because of a brokenfoot.