Is Zion Williamson Playing Tonight vs Heat? Injury updates for Pelicans’ Rising Superstar

Zion Williamson and the Pelicans have kicked their preseason campaign off well, and the action continues tonight against the Miami Heat.

After suffering a Jones fracture in his right foot after the 2020-21 season ended, Williamson was sidelined for all of the 2021-22 season.

The Pelicans made a surprise run without their most dominant player. After acquiring CJ McCollum, the Pelicans’ offense dynamically shifted to be one of the best in the league.

They finished as the 8th seed, and they won the play-in tournament to go head-to-head with the #1 seed Phoenix Suns in the first round.

Although they lost, New Orleans gave Phoenix everything they had, pushing the series to a surprising 6 games. They did all that without Zion, and now, they’re going to have him back. Zion was last spotted averaging 27 points per game while setting historic numbers in the paint, so signs point to a significant improvement for New Orleans.

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Will Zion Williamson play tonight?

Given the circumstances around his injury, the Pelicans are going to be careful in letting Zion back onto the court in full capacity. So far, Zion’s played in all three of the Pelicans’ preseason wins.

As per New Orleans’ injury report, the game plan won’t be different for this matchup against the Miami Heat either. Their injury report lists Kira Lewis Jr. and Jaxson Hayes being out while CJ McCollum and Brandon Ingram. CJ and Ingram haven’t played in the preseason thus far.

Of course, even though Zion will be playing in this game, since it is the preseason, we won’t be seeing too much of him. The Pelicans have been ramping up his minutes, from 15 in his first preseason game to 24 in his last one. Expect a similar playing time of 20-25 minutes in this game.

Zion is ready to make an impact again

Zion’s presence on the court immediately makes the Pelicans a better team. As we saw in his sophomore season, he was worth all the hype of being a first-round pick.

Zion kept par with Shaq’s record of most points per game in the paint, showing that he’s the perfect modern day big man. His energy is contagious, and with the run the Pelicans had last year, there’s only one way for them to go now.

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