Though injuries hampered his early career, Zion Williamson showed signs of his full potential on Thursday night, recording his first triple-double against the Phoenix Suns. Williamson had 27 points, ten rebounds, and 11 assists in a 124-116 win for the third straight win for the Pelicans. He has played only 22 games so far this year and is out of contention for any end-of-season awards, but he is averaging 24.3 points, 7.5 rebounds, and five assists in 28 minutes a night.
In both high school and college, Williamson was seen as one of the most highly touted prospects in recent basketball memory. Going into his lone season at Duke he was the top-rated prospect in the country, possessing an athletic ability in the body of a linebacker than had never been seen before. Williamson had a successful lone season in college, averaging 22 points and nine rebounds a game, and was taken first by New Orleans in the 2019 NBA Draft.
Since then, however, health struggles have been the key reason Williamson has never blossomed into the talent many thought he could be when entering the league. He only played in 22 games his rookie season, but followed that up with playing in 61 games his second year in which he averaged the highest amount of points per game in his career. He then missed the entire 2021-22 season with a Jones fracture after the Pelicans continued to report that he would eventually return healthy, though it never came to fruition.
That was then followed by seeing action in only 29 games in 2022-23. He did manage to play a career-high 70 games last season but has now missed more than half of the games this year. Williamson has struggled to stay healthy for more than one straight season, and throughout his first half-decade in the league, there have been major concerns about his weight and willingness to be in the best shape possible.
When he has been on the court, Williamson has been one of the most efficient players in the NBA, with a career average of 24.6 points on 58% shooting in 206 total games. He just hasn’t been able to stay healthy enough to turn that efficiency into long-term success. Earlier in the season, Williamson did claim that he was ready to play in back-to-back games but said that the team wasn’t ready for him to take that step. He has been dealing with a lingering hamstring injury this year, but when he’s been on the court, he is putting up All-Star level numbers.
Williamson is under contract with New Orleans for the next three years, and though he’s seen limited action, it would be in the Pelicans’ best interest to keep him as healthy as possible. He missed a large majority of the early part of the season, but since the start of the new year, Williamson has played in 16 games and averaged nearly 25 points per game on 60% shooting.
Despite Williamson showing recent signs of the potential fans saw in him when he entered the league, it hasn’t translated to wins for the Pelicans. Their victory against Phoenix was their third win in a row, which tied a season-high. Before then, however, they had lost 11 of their last 12 and currently sit 14th in the West with a 16-43 record. Much of the team’s recent struggles have also come after they traded Brandon Ingram to the Toronto Raptors. Ingram was the team’s leading scorer since he arrived in the trade for Anthony Davis back in 2019, but without him, they’ve struggled to find any offense.
Aside from Williamson, Trey Murphy and C.J. McCollum are the other leading scorers for New Orleans this season, both averaging 22 points per game. Along with them, the Pelicans have been playing mostly young and inexperienced players who are playing decently well but aren’t contributing to winning. The team has also seen injuries from both Dejounte Murray and Herb Jones, who haven’t been on the court consistently enough to make a big impact.
New Orleans is in a tough situation, and though they had one of their most successful regular seasons last year, they’ll look to make moves over the offseason. Seeing Williamson shine like he did in his triple-double performance is at least a good sign for the team, as when he is healthy, he can be a key factor in winning basketball.
Williamson’s triple-double on Thursday is a perfect representation of what he can do on the basketball court at his peak abilities. Though he’s not a lights-out shooter, he can drive to the basket, grab rebounds, play tough defense, and distribute the ball. Along with recording double-digit points, rebounds, and assists, he also had two blocks and recorded a +17 when on the court in the win against Phoenix. He isn’t just a player who can make a move in the post, but he can lead a team in all aspects of the game, whether it be on the offensive or defensive side.
Williamson, at his best, is must-watch basketball, but that doesn’t happen very often with his injuries and lack of ability to stay on the court for more than a season at a time. He did help New Orleans reach the playoffs last year in what was their most-winning season in over a decade, but is that the peak of him leading this team? He is still only 24 years old and is putting up career-high numbers in rebounding and assists this season. If Williamson can continue to do what he did on Thursday regularly, he’ll shine in the league and not just be another ‘what-if’ player like he has been so far.
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