Zion Williamson Out Indefinitely With Hamstring Strain

Pelicans forward Zion Williamson has been diagnosed with a left hamstring strain, the team announced today (via Twitter). Williamson underwent imaging on Saturday that confirmed the diagnosis.

According to the Pelicans, Williamson will be out indefinitely, with further updates provided as appropriate. While the club didn’t provide any sort of recovery timeline for the former No. 1 overall pick, it sounds like it’ll be a week-to-week injury rather than a day-to-day issue. Shams Charania of ESPN says (via Twitter) that Williamson will be reevaluated “in the coming weeks.”

As we noted on Friday, Williamson has missed three of New Orleans’ past four games with three different injury designations. He was sidelined by right hamstring tightness on Sunday, right thigh soreness on Monday, and left hamstring tightness on Friday.

It sounds like the latest ailment is the most significant of the bunch. It’s the same hamstring that Williamson injured in last season’s play-in tournament game — that injury forced him to sit out the entire first round of the playoffs, which contributed to the Pelicans’ quick postseason exit.

Williamson’s absence is the latest blow in what has been a brutal stretch of injury luck for the Pelicans during the season’s opening weeks. Nearly every one of the team’s starters or top reserves has been affected by some sort of multi-week health problem.

Dejounte Murray (fractured left hand) has been out since opening night; CJ McCollum (right adductor strain) and Herbert Jones (right shoulder strain) have each missed six consecutive games and remain sidelined; Jordan Hawkins suffered a low back strain on Wednesday that’s expected to keep him on the shelf for a week or two; and Trey Murphy has missed all 10 games so far this fall due to a hamstring strain of his own, though he’s targeting Monday for his return.

With Williamson unavailable, frontcourt players like Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Yves Missi, Daniel Theis, and Trey Jemison are all candidates for additional playing time.

Assuming they expect Murray, McCollum, and Jones to remain out for a couple more weeks, the Pelicans should soon be eligible for a hardship exception, which would allow them to temporarily carry more than the maximum allowable 15 players on standard contracts.

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