New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson has been cleared to join the team and will line up for the Thursday night’s NBA opening game against Utah Jazz, the team announced.
Coach Alvin Gentry told reporters that Williamson had to face his pre-game warm-ups before the team made a decision.
A championship source told ESPN’s Malika Andrews that Williamson will play in “short bursts” but will have no minutes limit.
Williamson appeared on the field shortly after Gentry relayed the news, sitting on a sideline chair for about five minutes before starting a short warm-up routine. He went to the basket a few times, then threw some free throws and then lost a certain number of 3 corner points, throwing his first ball before making one.
Then he returned to the bench, watched the video for a few minutes and retired to the changing rooms.
When Williamson returned from his knee injury in January that put him aside for the first 43 games of the season, the team used similar terminology to describe his game limits. Williamson played 18 minutes in his first game, checking out after a 17 point outburst in the fourth quarter of his debut and just under 21 minutes in his second outing. He later scored an average of 30.1 minutes per game in his five competitions.
Williamson left the team for a family medical emergency on July 16 and did not return until eight days later. Once back on the NBA campus, he was quarantined for four days, putting him in 12 days without team activity.
It was officially listed in the team’s injury report as questionable (reconditioning).
In 19 games this season, Williamson averaged 23.5 points and 6.5 rebounds per game.
ESPN’s Tim Bontemps information was used in this report.
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