Zion Williamson makes NBA regular season debut with the New Orleans Pelicans

Zion Williamson (Keenan Hairston, Wikimedia Commons)

Zion Williamson of Salisbury, South Carolina made his National Basketball Association regular season debut on Wednesday in a 121-117 Pelicans home loss to the San Antonio Spurs at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana. There is a lot of hype surrounding Williamson because he was the number one pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, but the star small forward from Duke missed the first 44 games of the 2019-20 NBA regular season due to a torn meniscus in his knee.

Ironically, Williamson suffered the injury in a preseason game against the Spurs on October 13, 2019. The Pelicans won the meaningless contest 123-114 in San Antonio.

On Wednesday in his first meaningful NBA game, Williamson scored 22 points, had seven rebounds and three assists in 18 minutes and 18 seconds of action. There is no doubt that Williams was slowly making his way into game action, as he played significantly fewer minutes than four other Pelicans starters and two players off the bench.

However despite the limited time on the court, Williamson still led the Pelicans in scoring with 22 points, as he was tied with Brandon Ingram. The Spurs meanwhile were led by LaMarcus Aldridge, who had a double double himself (32 points and 14 rebounds).

The Spurs improved to a record of 20 wins and 23 losses. The Pelicans dropped to 17 wins and 28 losses. Despite being 11 games below the .500 mark, the Pelicans still have time this season to make some noise and squeak into the postseason. They are only four games back of the Spurs for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.