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Pelicans season continues spiraling with latest Zion Williamson injury update

The Pelicans cannot catch a break.

By Zachary Rotman

Nov 6, 2024; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson (1) dribbles against the Cleveland Cavaliers during the first half at Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images
Nov 6, 2024; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson (1) dribbles against the Cleveland Cavaliers during the first half at Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images / Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images
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The New Orleans Pelicans entered the 2024-25 campaign expecting to, at the very least, make the playoffs, but their beginning to the season has left a lot to be desired. Friday's embarrassing 115-88 loss against an Orlando Magic team without Paolo Banchero dropped New Orleans to 3-7 on the season. The only Western Conference team below them in the standings is the Utah Jazz.

The worst part about this loss was that the Pelicans' best player, Zion Williamson, missed yet another game due to injury. He played in their previous game against the Cleveland Cavaliers but sat in Orlando - his fourth missed game already this season. It turns out that Williamson is going to have to miss more than just Friday's game as he's dealing with a hamstring strain according to Shams Charania of ESPN.

The hamstring injury will keep Williamson out of action indefinitely. That's just the latest big blow in a Pelicans season that is quickly spiraling out of control.

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Pelicans season on verge of spiraling with Zion Williamson injury update

Williamson missing weeks with an injury wouldn't be the end of the world if the Pelicans weren't dealing with a bunch of other injuries, but that's not the case. The Pelicans have been dealing with as many injuries as any NBA team.

Williamson joins Dejounte Murray, CJ McCollum, Herb Jones, Jordan Hawkins, and Trey Murphy III on the sidelines currently. Murphy is expected to make his season debut in New Orleans' next game, but the others are out. That's pretty much their entire starting lineup, with the exception of Brandon Ingram.

This injury is not a season-ender, and the regular season isn't even one month old yet, but this could not have come at a worse time for New Orleans. Again, the Pelicans are ahead of just one team in the Western Conference. 11 of the 15 teams in that conference are over .500, and the Pelicans are already four games under that .500 mark.

Their path to the playoffs would be tough with how good the conference is even with everyone healthy, so all of these injuries happening at once makes their road much tougher. The Pelicans will have to dig out of a major hole to get in. Hopefully, a trade or two is on the horizon to give the Pelicans some sort of a boost in the short-term.

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