The New Orleans Pelicans might have a handful of games left in the 2024-25 NBA season, but Zion Williamson is officially done for the year. The announcement came after he was ruled out of three straight games with a lower back bruise.
All in all, Zion put together a pretty strong campaign, despite the Pelicans' overall struggles as a team. For the year, he averaged 24.6 points, 7.2 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 1.2 steals, and 0.9 blocks while shooting 56.7 percent from the field. Those are some incredibly eye-catching numbers, especially considering his limited playing time this season, as his 28.6 minutes per game were the lowest since his rookie year.
Had he averaged more playing time this season, who knows how astronomically his output could have climbed. Had he hit the 65-game requirement, he definitely would have had a serious case for his first All-NBA selection, even at just 28 minutes a night. He fell well short of that, though — so short that his shutdown had no effect on him fulfilling the prerequisite. However, the Pelicans shutting Zion down for the rest of the season could bring on some unforeseen consequences that'll affect them in the long run.
Zion's shutdown will not help his perception or his trade value
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Zion Williamson may have had an injury listed for his shutdown, but let's not get it twisted. Big Z was absolutely healthy enough to play and would have suited up had the Pelicans had anything left to play for this season. Instead, New Orleans is actively trying to lose, which is why they ruled out both Zion and CJ McCollum for the last couple of weeks. Rolling them out in these remaining games would have only been risking their health and making it harder for the Pelicans to maximize their lottery odds for the NBA Draft.
Anyone following the Pelicans closely this season should know that. In fact, even his hamstring injury probably wouldn't have cost him two months of the year had New Orleans been in any sort of competitive position when he was fully rehabilitated. And he likely would have averaged more than 28.6 minutes per game if they were still in the hunt for a playoff spot for the majority of the campaign.
[We've already seen one major NBA talking head assume that Zion was actually hurt again](https://pelicandebrief.com/pelicans-fire-back-espn-star-baseless-attack-zion-williamson), and we've learned over these past few years how quickly misinformation can spread. Armed with a potentially franchise-changing lottery pick, the Pelicans have a lot of options ahead of them this offseason. If they do end up drawing number one and Cooper Flagg, it's not unthinkable that they'd consider trading Williamson and pivoting to a rebuild around their new prized prospect[. They could potentially move on from Zion even if they don't get Flagg](https://pelicandebrief.com/pelicans-star-may-already-played-last-game-franchise). Considering how Stephen A. Smith reacted to the news, it's not impossible that New Orleans's decision to shut down Zion for the rest of the season could negatively impact his trade stock, not just this summer but for the foreseeable future.