New Orleans Pelicans Have An Impressive Young Core: With Zion Williamson, They Can Be A Contender Next Season

Last month, Zion Williamson threw the ball off the backboard, defenseless it in the air, crossed information technology between his legs and threw down a dunk before descending back to earth. This month, he drove to the paint, leaped upwards from the restricted circle and launched into a 360-caste slam. These were the Cirque du Soleil-style highlights that Pelicans fans had hoped to run across Williamson perform nightly after New Orleans drafted him with the No. 1 selection in the 2019 Due north.B.A. draft.

The just problem? Neither of those highlight-reel plays took place during a game. The outset was posted to Williamson’s Instagram story from an empty gym, and the 2d came during pregame warm-ups before the Pelicans defeated the Los Angeles Clippers in the play-in tournament.

It has been nigh a year since Williamson last played in a live game, the result of foot surgery that has been painfully boring to heal. Without him, the Pelicans have fabricated a surprising playoff run and are giving the top-seeded Phoenix Suns all they tin handle in their first-round series. The Pelicans’ functioning has left basketball fans everywhere — and specially in New Orleans — wondering how good this immature team could be if Williamson were at that place.

The Pelicans tied the series, 2-two, with an energetic 118-103 victory at abode over Phoenix on Lord's day. The Suns were up by 2 at halftime, but New Orleans outscored them past 12 in the third quarter and led past as many equally 18 en route to the win. The home crowd was rocking — the kind of atmosphere that could go routine every bit the squad continues to find itself, with and without Williamson.

As a high schooler, Williamson was hyped similar no histrion since LeBron James. His high-flying dunks made him a social media celebrity and a sought-after recruit, simply some scouts wondered whether a 6-foot-6, 280-pound frontwards could thrive in higher basketball or the N.B.A. In his single flavor at Knuckles, Williamson left no doubts nearly his abilities. In his collegiate debut against Kentucky, he scored 28 points in 23 minutes on 11-for-13 shooting and produced the first of many mind-boggling highlights when he blocked a 7-footer’s shot with both hands before leading a fast break and finding RJ Barrett for a bucket in transition.

During that Duke flavour, Williamson’s dunks continued to peel the paint off rims and to air on repeat on “SportsCenter.” But he proved to be more than a human highlight reel. He showed an uncanny knack for seeing passing lanes before they appeared on criminal offence — and for cutting them off on defense, where he averaged 2.1 steals per game. Despite his size, the Bluish Devils often played Williamson at the v, and he defended the rim admirably, averaging 1.8 blocks per game.

“This child is — he’due south but one of a kind,” Knuckles Coach Mike Krzyzewski told reporters in March 2019. “He’s certainly a special basketball game actor, but as a youngster, he has a maturity. Information technology’s uncommon. It really is uncommon. How humble he is. How fresh, heady. He’s exquisite. He’southward just the best.”

In i of the most memorable moments of Williamson’due south higher career, on the road against No. 3 Virginia, he pulled off a seemingly impossible cake against a future elevation-five pick, De’Andre Hunter. After initially defending guard Kyle Guy exterior the 3-point line, Williamson chased a pass to a wide-open Hunter in the reverse corner. Roofing 25 feet in two seconds, Williamson launched equally if from Greatcoat Canaveral and swatted Hunter’south shot into the 4th row of the stands.

After tearing his meniscus in the 2019 Due north.B.A. preseason, Williamson appeared in simply 24 games during his offset flavor in New Orleans. Nonetheless, he was named to the Northward.B.A. All-Rookie first squad. The next flavor, he averaged 27 points, 7.2 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game on the fashion to his first All-Star selection. He proved to exist one of the most efficient scorers in the N.B.A., at i point shooting amend than 50 percent from the floor in 25 consecutive games. His average of 20.3 points in the paint per game was more than whatsoever player since Shaquille O’Neal. It’southward Williamson’south ability to score easily in halfcourt sets that New Orleans has missed the most this twelvemonth.

With Williamson sidelined again this flavor, the Pelicans looked listless to start the year. They won only one game in their start 13 and spent most of the starting time 3 months in the Western Briefing cellar. Merely Willie Green, their first-year head omnibus, managed not to allow the team linger on questions of when Williamson would return. Instead, he focused on developing other young stars: Trey Murphy, a first-round pick; Herbert Jones, a second-round selection; and the undrafted point guard Jose Alvarado take emerged as surprisingly mature and effective rookies. Every bit the merchandise deadline approached, the Pelicans had become a pesky and concrete defensive team and had climbed to 10th place in the Due west.

Trading with the Portland Trail Blazers for guard CJ McCollum took some of the offensive pressure level off their leading scorer, Brandon Ingram, and gave the Pelicans a much-needed veteran leader in the locker room. Ingram and McCollum developed a quick chemistry despite playing in simply 15 games together during the regular season. When McCollum and Ingram shared the floor with heart Jonas Valanciunas, the Pelicans posted an phenomenal 119.2 points per 100 possessions. The strengths that the squad has developed — from rebounding to transition offense to points in the paint — perfectly suit Williamson’south skills. And when New Orleans’s offense stagnates in the halfcourt, it’s difficult non to imagine how much more force per unit area information technology could put on defenses with a threescore per centum shooter in its armory.

In prior matchups against a healthy Williamson, the Suns often assigned the 6-foot-xi centre Deandre Ayton to guard him. When Williamson pulled Ayton out to the perimeter, driving lanes that had once resembled the freeway on a Friday afternoon suddenly opened. At that place’s no incertitude that a healthy Williamson would have an impact on this series. With the Suns’ starting shooting guard, Devin Booker, sidelined because of a hamstring injury, the render of Williamson could transform the series. And even if he was not able to put New Orleans over the top of the reigning N.B.A. Western Briefing champions, his presence would be an opportunity for the Pelicans’ core players to go experience playing together in high-stakes situations.

According to ESPN, Williamson and the franchise have a “difference of opinion” about whether he’s healthy enough to play. Merely the team has not officially ruled him out. Whatsoever tension exists betwixt Williamson and the Pelicans is probable to spill over into the off-season, with Williamson eligible for a rookie max extension after having played just 85 games in three seasons.

“Some things need to stay private, but I will say this: What Z is going through is extremely hard,” Green told reporters in February. “As a thespian and person, I’ve went through injuries. No excuses fabricated on my part, merely it’s difficult. You’re weighing a lot at those moments. You’re weighing when yous’re going to go on to play. A lot goes through your head. For united states here, for me, it’s having compassion and having an understanding of what he has to become through to get good for you.”

Until Williamson’s return, all that’south left for his fans to do is rewatch old highlights, overanalyze new ones and wonder what could be.