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New Orleans Pelicans' Zion Williamson is close to his return

Having been cleared for contact drills, the All-Star forward is almost ready to play again.

Paul Rudder
Paul RudderEnglish_AS
New Orleans Pelicans' Zion Williamson is close to his return
AFP

The Pelicans have had a rough start to the season, but with Zion Williamson close to his return, maybe things are about to change.

Zion Williamson is close to his return

The New Orleans Pelicans breathed a sigh of relief this week as they received some good news. Forward Zion Williamson has been cleared to participate in contact drills. According to a team announcement, Williamson is now very close to his return to the court. The NBA All-Star who is now in his third season in the league, has actually been absent for all of the Pelicans' games for the season so far. The cause? A right foot fracture suffered in the summer. There was initial hope that Williamson would have been available for the start of the season, but in the end histurned out to be more complicated that first thought.

Williamson's progress 

The Pelicans went on to add that Williamson will have to undergo further medical imaging on November 24th. At that point it will be determined whether or not he will be given the green light for full team workouts. It is understood that Williamson will start with 1-on-1 workouts and progress from there. The team also stated that he had undergone imaging session just days ago on November 11th at which time he was cleared by Dr. Richard Ferkel who is knonwn to have previously operated on Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. In addition to Dr. Ferkel, Williamson also received approval from Dr. Scott Montgomery who is in fact the Pelican's offical orthopedic surgeon.

The Pelicans need their man

Understandably, the Pelican have been dismal without Williamson in the team. New Orleans have dropped all the way to a 2-13 start. Most recently they fell to the Washington Wizards on Monday night. Sadly as bright a talent as Williamson is, he has not seen as much court time as you would think due to long term injuries. The forward has played just 85 games in his 3 seasons. In his rookie season he played just 24 games as a result of a tear in his right meniscus.