Pelicans suspend Zion Williamson 1 game for repeated tardiness

The New Orleans Pelicans suspended power forward Zion Williamson for Friday night’s game vs Philadelphia for violating team policy.

Williamson has been late to multiple Pelicans practices or flights this season, leading to a one-game suspension.

“There were several opportunities leading up to this and that’s how we came to this decision,” coach Willie Green said ahead of the match. 76ers‘ game.

Williamson he was sidelined for more games than he played due to various injuries since being drafted first overall out of Duke in 2019. Appeared in just seven of New Orleans’ 38 games this season. The Pelicans were 2-5 in those games, and 5-26 without him.

In a statement, the 24-year-old Williamson apologized to team owner Gayle Benson and the entire organization for his behavior.

“I take full responsibility for this suspension,” he said. “I’ve been working extremely hard in rehab to get healthy so I can deliver for this team.” There is no excuse for being late to team activities. I apologized to Ms. Benson and my teammates and coaches, and I also owe the fans an apology. I can and will be better as a teammate and member of this organization.”

Williamson showed another flash of his talent with a monster dunk on Tuesday against Minnesota.

Williamson symbolically announced his return after a 27-game injury layoff with a breakaway dunk in which he rotated 360 degrees in the air as I throw down a crowd-pleasing double-clutch jam.

Williamson also had six rebounds, four assists, three steals and a block on Wolves center Rudy Gobert. After a few minutes on the field, he fired up the crowd with high dunk with two hands of CJ McCollum’s long alley-oop lob.

Williamson, however, was ruled out of the next game against Portland due to rest and will now miss two consecutive games due to his absence against Sixers.

The Pelicans play again Sunday in Boston.

“This one-game suspension is the result of his failure to meet our team’s standards. His commitment to this organization is of the utmost importance to us and to him,” said Pelicans Executive Vice President David Griffin. “He took responsibility for his actions and reaffirmed that commitment to the team today. I am confident that he will continue to develop positively on and off the court.”

The Pelicans will also be without forward and top defenseman Herb Jones on Friday. Jones has a torn posterior labrum in his right shoulder that will s went to him for an indefinite period of time.

Jones underwent an MRI on Thursday after leaving Wednesday night’s loss to Portland.

Jones also missed 18 games earlier this season with the same shoulder injury before returning on Dec. 5 to start 16 straight games.

Jones has played in 20 of New Orleans’ 38 games this season, averaging 10.3 points, 3.9 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.9 steals in 32.4 minutes per game.

Associated Press reports.

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