It’s the little break of the day, and it is rather worrying. While in Orlando with his Pelicans teammates, Zion Williamson left the Florida bubble urgently. No, he was not tested positive for COVID, but he had to leave to join his family.
The info comes from Shams Charania’s Twitter account. The Pelicans phenomenon is no longer on the Orlando campus. The reason ? A medical emergency that visibly concerns a family member. No details were given on the nature of this emergency, either via Shams or the New Orleans franchise, which simply said in its press release that it “supported Zion’s decision”. We learn however through the latter that Williamson’s return to Orlando is planned for a later date. Do not panic for theNBA leaders fans of Pels, even if we don’t really like hearing this kind of news. We hope for Zion and his family that everything will be back to normal, and that he can return to Florida with peace of mind in the near future. Obviously, the NOLA team will need their nugget to hope to achieve their goals at Mickey. We know that Pelicans want to eat Grizzly and qualify for the Playoffs. Currently, Alvin Gentry’s team is in tenth place in the West with 28 wins for 36 losses, just behind the Portland Blazers and 3.5 games from Memphis, eighth. In other words, it’s playable, especially when you remember the Zion festival before the forced break.
Pelicans‘ Zion Williamson has left the Orlando campus to tend to an urgent family medical matter and plans to return for season restart at later date.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 16, 2020
But before you can find your friends in the bubble and ignite Disney, number one in the 2019 Draft will have to follow a strict protocol that could potentially make him miss matches. A ten-day quarantine period is scheduled in Orlando for those who have left campus previously. Ten days is still a long time when you know that recovery is already two weeks away. However, there is a way to shorten this period to four days for players like Zion who leave the bubble for an exceptional reason with the agreement of the NBA. To do this, you must be tested daily off-campus and receive a negative result each time. Just for information, the regular season will resume on July 30 for the Pelicans, who will face Jazz that day. New Orleans will start its prep games on the 22nd with an opposition against Brooklyn, then will continue with a meeting against Denver on the 25th and finally the Bucks on the 27th.
This departure in emergency of Zion Williamson risks to plumb a little the restarting of Pelicans. We will obviously monitor this situation closely, because it could have an impact on the race for the Playoffs in the West if ever the absence of the rookie were to be prolonged. In the meantime, we can only wish good luck to friend Zion.
Sending all the best to Zion and his family. If Zion returns to the NBA’s Disney campus, he’ll need to quarantine for four days if he receives negative test results for seven days prior to his return, per the NBA’s Health and Safety Protocol. Otherwise, it’s a 10-day quarantine. https://t.co/LdzjM5igKq pic.twitter.com/2DTajZdtjH
— Kevin O’Connor (@KevinOConnorNBA) July 16, 2020
Source texte : The Athletic / Twitter Pelicans / The Ringer
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