New Orleans Pelicans rookie Zion Williamson was scheduled for the NBA restart opening game on Thursday, said coach Alvin Gentry on Wednesday afternoon.
Gentry said the medical team will eventually decide if Williamson – who has been away from the team for 12 days due to a family medical emergency and his four-day quarantine – is ready to play against Utah Jazz.
“Obviously as a coach you want him out there as much as you can have him out there,” said Gentry. “We have guys who are better equipped to make those decisions than me from a health point of view and from the point of view of the minutes played. It will collectively be something that you will do by sitting and talking about it and finding out if it ends up playing.”
Williamson approached the media for the first time on Wednesday since he left Orlando on July 16th and said he only wanted to play, but acknowledges the risk at hand. “I think my team and I will see what’s best for me, my future and being safe,” said Williamson. “If you know me, I want to make a circle. That’s how I am; I’ll never change. I want to make a circle, so simple.”
Williamson declined to go into details about the family’s medical emergency, saying only that it was something he discussed with his parents and family about the decision to leave and the time to return. Once back in Orlando, he was quarantined in a hotel room for four days as he tried to balance himself as he prepared to play while he was to remain in his room.
“I’ve been able to do some body workouts, just to keep the muscles moving,” said Williamson. “While I was away, it’s difficult to do things. I was dealing with a family emergency, so it’s God and the family first. So basketball wasn’t really there; I was dealing with something serious.”
Taking time away from basketball and then going back to the NBA game so quickly is something Williamson and the team are approaching cautiously. “The NBA isn’t something you can just jump straight into, especially things like that,” said Williamson. “So I think my team and I will try to see what’s best, and if I’m ready to go out there.”
Williamson said his body feels good after two workouts with New Orleans, although he didn’t participate in 5 out of 5 exercises on Tuesday and Gentry said Wednesday was a lighter day.
Pelican striker Derrick Favors has a unique perspective on the time Williamson has spent. In November, Favors’ mother passed away and took a few weeks away from basketball before joining the team in mid-December. Favors said it is important to realize that the family should come first and the team understands it.
“You have to find that central point in everything,” said Favors. “But sometimes you just have to put your family first. If there is something drastic going on in your personal life or in your family, everyone understands that you have to go away and manage your business with your family. But when the opportunity comes back to play basketball, we all welcome each other with open arms. We just try to support each other. Sometimes you just have to remember it’s a game. You still have life outside of this game. It’s It’s important to take care of your personal affairs and your family, first of all. Sometimes you have to put basketball in second place. “
Favors also understands that although Williamson will play Thursday against Jazz, it may not seem like the explosive phenomenon that stormed the NBA this season immediately.
“I simply can’t get him into the fire right away and expect great things from him right away,” said Favors. “So it will probably take some time. Hopefully not too long, but it will probably take a week or so to get his legs back underneath, and get some rust out, and get back in shape.
“He has worked a lot since he returned, got up in blows, did a lot of cardio. So, I hope, I don’t know when, but I hope when he returns to the field, he may be his normal new dominant self.”
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