Is Zion Williamson playing tonight? Latest injury update for Pelicans vs. Kings

A fantastic season for the New Orleans Pelicans could be coming to a premature finish.

New Orleans finished with the fifth-best SRS (strength-of-schedule adjusted point differential) in the entire league but a poor 14-15 record in close games hurt their record and they finished with the seventh-best record in the West. They could have held onto that seed by beating the Los Angeles Lakers in the first game of the Play-In Tournament but lost, 110-106, pushing them to the brink of elimination.

Zion Williamson was absolutely dominant against the Lakers, putting up 40 points, 11 rebounds and 5 assists. However, he was forced to leave the game with a hamstring injury and not much time to recover before tonight's do-or-die matchup with the Sacramento Kings.

Zion Williamson has been ruled out tonight against the New Orleans Pelicans

Per the NBA's official injury report, Zion has been ruled out for tonight.

His absence presents a major problem for the Pelicans. Both Brandon Ingram and CJ McCollum struggled mightily against the Lakers — 4-of-12 from the field for Ingram, 4-of-15 for McCollum. However, both of those players were incredible productive against the Kings in the regular season and the Pelicans swept those four games.

In three regular-season games against Sacramento, McCollum averaged 26 points and 6 assists, shooting 60.4 percent from the field and 19-of-27 from beyond the arc (70.4 percent). No, those shooting percentages aren't a typo. Ingram put up 24.8 points per game, appeaing in all four against the Kings, and was also scoring hot — 52.9 percent from the field and 55.6 percent from beyond the arc.

Even if the production from those two players falls somewhere between how good they were in the regular season and how bad they were against the Lakers, the Pelicans should have the offensive firepower to keep this close against the Kings. The game tips off at 9:30 p.m., with the winner landing the No. 8 seed and a first-round matchup against the Oklahoma City Thunder which will begin Sunday night at 9:30 p.m. ET.