Pelicans' Zion Williamson put to sleep with harsh Kendrick Perkins slander

11/13/2024 09:26 PM

The New Orleans Pelicans are in bad shape, as they’ve lost six rotation players to injury, including starting point guard Dejounte Murray (broken hand) and star Zion Williamson (hamstring strain). While many of these players should return to the team in a matter of weeks, Williamson is out indefinitely, casting doubt on his availability for the rest of the season. For instance, ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins even suggested a new nickname–“pajamas”–for Zion Williamson because of his constant injury problems and lack of availability for the team.

“We need to start calling Zion [Williamson] ‘Pajamas’ because he’s just as worse… If you have championship aspirations, Zion can’t be the face of your team, he can’t be your No. 1 guy because he’s never available,” Perkins said on ESPN, via a clip shared by ClutchPoints on X, formerly Twitter.

"We need to start calling Zion [Williamson] 'Pajamas' because he's just as worse… If you have championship aspirations, Zion can't be the face of your team, he can't be your No. 1 guy because he's never available."

– Kendrick Perkins pic.twitter.com/ydkhKYV0LI

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) November 14, 2024

The Pelicans star’s injury luck

Per the same Kendrick Perkins’ “pajamas” segment, Zion Williamson’s injury issues has caused him to miss more games (211) than he has played (190) with the Pelicans, who drafted him No. 1 overall in 2019.

While injuries to Zion have hurt the Pels’ playoff chances in recent years, analysts blaming players for their injuries, regardless how often, seems more than a little unfair. It’s not like Zion wanted to injure his hamstring.

Moreover, Perkins referenced the same situation with Anthony Davis, whom fans called “street clothes” for his injury woes in the past few seasons. Last season, though, AD played 76 games, the most since his Pelicans days, and even anchored Team USA in the Paris Olympics.

A nagging foot injury has caused Davis to miss one game so far this season, and fans hope it doesn’t bother him too much, given the Lakers’ playoff hopes rest almost entirely on his shoulders.

The same thing is true for Zion. His teammates recovering from injury should help them get some wins together, but they wouldn’t do much in the playoffs, if they even qualify.

Other star players have suffered injuries this season, too, such as Kawhi Leonard missing every Clippers game this year. Likewise, Joel Embiid has just returned from injury in the 76ers’ loss to the Knicks in the NBA Cup.

Health issues

Earlier this season, Embiid has caused some stir because of his comments about playing back-to-backs, and it seems the team has decided to sit him (along with Paul George) against the Cavaliers on Wednesday.

Load management is one thing, but sitting two of your stars when your team is in the cellar of the Eastern Conference, with a 2-8 record, is entirely another.

Still, it is ironic that the Pelicans’ key players keep sustaining injuries, but the player they reportedly want to trade–Brandon Ingram–has played every game this year, particularly considering his own injury history.

Agree with Big Perk or not, something does have to give with Zion, and the Pelicans will have to figure out how they want to keep him healthy, given his contract will run them through the 2027-2028 season.

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