NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - Injured stars Zion Williamson and C.J. McCollum will not play again this season, the Pelicans announced in a press release Monday evening (March 31).
New Orleans’ top two remaining players will sit out the final seven games of the disappointing 2024-25 season and concentrate on rest and rehab from injuries sustained earlier this month.
They join Trey Murphy III and Herb Jones as Pelicans starters already lost for the season weeks earlier.
Pelicans guard C.J. McCollum (3) has played his last game of the season after suffering a...
Pelicans guard C.J. McCollum (3) has played his last game of the season after suffering a bruised right foot on March 23. (AP Photo/Peter Forest)(Peter Forest | AP)
Williamson, 24, hasn’t played since bruising a bone in her lower back when he took a fall during a March 19 game in Minnesota. The 6-6. 284-pound power forward played just 30 of the Pelicans’ scheduled 82 games, averaging 24.6 points and 7.2 rebounds per game when available. He spent several weeks this season rehabbing from a hamstring strain.
Williamson’s availability remains the franchise’s biggest 1uestion mark. In five NBA seasons, the former No. 1 overall pick out of Duke University has never played more than 70 games. He only played 30 games or fewer now in three of his first five seasons.
McCollum, 33, hasn’t played since sustaining a bruised right foot in a March 23 game in Detroit.
The veteran shooting guard played 56 games in his fourth season with the Pelicans, and his 12th NBA season overall. He averaged 21.1 points per game.
The Pelicans are 21-54 heading into Wednesday night’s game against the Clippers in Los Angeles.
They have the fourth-worst record in the NBA, putting them in the lottery hunt for likely No. 1 draft pick Cooper Flagg of Duke. The teams with the three worst records each have a 14 percent chance in the draft lottery to secure the top pick, and the team with the fourth-best record has a 12.5 percent chance to pick first.
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