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New Orleans Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations David Griffin said Monday that rookie Zion Williamson is expected to return to practice on Wednesday, according to Malika Andrews of ESPN.
Williamson on Friday returned to the Walt Disney World Resort after leaving to attend to an urgent family medical matter. Williamson was tested daily for COVID-19 during his time away and produced negative results each time. He is currently in the midst of a four-day quarantine.
Griffin said Williamson will finish his quarantine sometime on Tuesday afternoon and will need to receive the results of his COVID-19 test prior to being cleared to practice. The Pelicans delivered some workout equipment to his room to utilize during isolation.
While Williamson will likely practice on Wednesday, Griffin said the team will evaluate where Williamson is before deciding on his official status for the Pelicans’ first game of the season restart on Thursday against the Utah Jazz.
Literally any player on our roster who went 13 days without doing any physical activity, it isn’t going to be a given that we would just cut them loose in that next game. Particularly a player that generates as much torque as he does. So we will see where he’s at.
The Pelicans wrap up their three-game scrimmage schedule on Monday against the Milwaukee Bucks so Williamson will have had appeared in none of the tune-up games prior to the season restart. Williamson looked to be in good shape prior to leaving the team so he may not miss too much time, if any.
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