Ryan YoungStaff writerTue, December 2, 2025 at 9:29 PM UTC·2 min readThe New Orleans Pelicans will be without ZIon Williamson for a significant stretch yet again.
Williamson is dealing with a right adductor injury that will cause him to miss “extended time,” according to ESPN’s Shams Charania. Though a specific timeframe isn’t known, the Pelicans will evaluate Williamson again in three weeks. That puts a potential return near the end of the calendar year, at best.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementWilliamson has played in just 10 games this season, his seventh in the league. This injury is just the latest one for the former Duke star, who went No. 1 overall in the draft in 2019. He played in just 30 games last season, and has actually only surpassed that total in just two campaigns — which includes missing the entire 2021-22 season.
In fact, since Williamson has entered the league, he’s played in just 224 of a possible 493 regular-season games. That’s about a 45.5% availability rate.
Williamson has been a very solid player for the Pelicans when available. He’s averaged 22.1 points, 5.6 rebounds and four assists over the 10 games he’s played in this season, all of which are just slightly below his career averages. He returned from a hamstring injury, something he dealt with for much of last season, last month and has been fairly consistent since. He’s even played in five of the team’s last seven games.
Williamson has faced plenty of criticism throughout his professional career over his conditioning, too, and even has clauses in his contract concerning his weight and body-fat percentage. But Williamson entered this season appearing to be in the best shape of his career, and said before the season that he hasn’t “felt like this since college, high school.”
Now, though, Williamson will be sidelined for a significant chunk of the season yet again.
This post will be updated with more information shortly.
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