Zion Williamson’s night ends with late injury in Pelicans’ loss to Lakers

NEW ORLEANS — Towards the top of top-of-the-line video games of his younger profession, Zion Williamson grabbed a towel and flung it down on the New Orleans Pelicans’ bench.

With 3:13 left and the Pelicans making an attempt a livid comeback, Williamson’s evening was over, the irritating results of a left leg damage.

Williamson had 40 factors, 11 rebounds and 5 assists and had simply tied the rating at 95-95 with a layup in opposition to Los Angeles Lakers middle Anthony Davis.

Lakers coach Darvin Ham referred to as a timeout, however as Williamson walked to the Pelicans’ bench space, one thing was off. He briefly sat down, threw the towel and walked again into the tunnel, ending his evening.

With Williamson out of the equation, the Pelicans could not hold on and the Lakers left the Smoothie King Middle with a 110-106 victory and the No. 7 seed within the playoffs.

The Pelicans will face the Sacramento Kings on Friday evening, however Williamson’s standing is unclear. Following the loss to the Lakers, Williamson was seen strolling round with none wraps on his leg and did not seem to have a limp when he left the locker room.

“Proper now, it is left leg soreness and he will get imaging on it tomorrow,” Pelicans coach Willie Inexperienced mentioned after the sport. “We are going to work out extra. That is the report I obtained again. I have not talked to him. However we’ll see what occurs tomorrow once we get the outcomes again.”

Williamson performed in a career-high 71 video games this season and was taking part in in his first non-regular-season recreation of his younger profession. He missed the Pelicans’ two play-in video games in 2022 due to damage in addition to their playoff sequence that 12 months. He additionally sat out the group’s play-in recreation final season due to an damage.

After simply 12 factors in a Sunday loss to the Lakers to ship New Orleans to the play-in recreation itself, Williamson crossed that mark within the first quarter alone. His 40 factors would have been a season excessive, and he had by no means had a 40-point, 10-rebound recreation in his profession.

“That was every thing that you might have hoped from Z,” Pelicans ahead Larry Nance Jr. mentioned. “He gave us every thing. He was unimaginable tonight. You’ll be able to’t ask for extra from that child. He was unbelievable.”

Stated Inexperienced: “It was powerful to see him go down. We’re all praying and hoping he’s OK. He was battling. He was going. The group was proper there with him. It is powerful. We’ll see what occurs and go from there.”