Pelicans reveal when Zion Williamson will finally make his NBA debut

Zion Williamson is expected to make his regular-season debut next week.

It feels like it’s been an eternity since basketball fans have been able to celebrate a jaw-dropping Zion Williamson highlight, but the No. 1 overall pick is finally about to make his regular season debut on January 22nd, according to the team.

Williamson has been plagued by injuries in 2019, and he was sidelined in the preseason with a torn meniscus that required surgery. Williamson was initially expected to miss between six-to-eight weeks, per reports, but the Pelicans have been exceedingly cautious with their new franchise player, and rightfully so.

Some analysts, like ESPN’s Jalen Rose, have argued that the Pelicans – currently 15-26 – have little to gain by putting Williamson on the floor this season, and that the team should consider redshirting him for the rest of the year to allow him even more time to get into an optimal playing condition. Many experts are also concerned about Williamson’s playing weight, as he’s currently the third-heaviest player in the NBA, behind only Boban Marjanovic and Tacko Fall, two towering centers. According to Reggie Miller, Williamson needs to lose upwards of 30 pounds, but the Pelicans exec David Griffin has repeatedly said that the team isn’t concerned about his weight.

The Pelicans have, however, taken steps to try and change the way Williamson operates. It was reported that the team is working on his “kinetic chain,” and teaching him how to run and walk in a more healthy and effective way. (Those reports led to a hilarious NBA on TNT segment.)

Williamson has told reporters that if the decision was up to him, he’d have already returned weeks ago. Zion will finally get the chance to take the court on January 22nd for a home game against the Spurs.

The Zion era is nearly upon us.

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