Zion Williamson Injury Update: The Pelicans star suffers from sore feet; Optimistic team, it’s just a small step back

Zion Williamson There has been a step back in returning to competition. While he was scheduled to practice with New Orleans Pelicans on Thursday, foot pain prevented him from doing so, as first reported by ESPN’s Andrew Lopez and The Athletic’s Will Guillory.

Williamson played 4v4, per ESPNHowever, because his leg hurts, the Pelicans will return to his workload shortly. He will not be exposed to any contact during his practice during their two-game Texas trip this week, per The Athletic, but according to the report, the team does not consider this to be a small delay.

“It’s part of the process,” Pelicans coach Willie Green told reporters, via Fletcher Mackel of WDSU. “When you’re dealing with an injury and you’re up to some, there’s a chance you might have some pain, which he’s dealing with now.”

Green added that Williamson had “cut his tail” to return and was “disappointed”, but understood he had to “continue to overcome these obstacles.” He also stressed that New Orleans is “very optimistic” that the soreness will go away in a few days and will be able to get Williamson up and running again.

“We don’t want to put our boys on the floor and put their careers at stake or in jeopardy,” Green said. “All of our boys are too important to do something like that, so that’s the due diligence we’re doing right now.”

Without Williamson, the Pelicans are 6-18 on the season, with a third-worst net rating in NBA, per Glass Cleaning. They will come to visit Dallas Mavericks on friday and Houston Rockets on Sunday, then back to New Orleans to play Denver Nuggets Next Wednesday and Detroit Pistons Next Friday.