The New Orleans Pelicans won’t be imposing a minutes restriction on young star Zion Williamson as he heads into his second season as a pro, according to ESPN’s Andrew Lopez.
“Me and [Pelicans] coach [Stan] Van Gundy have talked and from what I know now, there are no restrictions. None,” Williamson said when speaking to reporters as training camp opened. “Of course. I love to play basketball. With no restrictions? Why wouldn’t I love that?”
Stan Van Gundy said that Williamson has “no limitations in practice” adding “that’s a good thing” and noting that Williamson easily passed his conditioning test.
“He and Nickeil [Alexander-Walker] probably did theirs the easiest,” Van Gundy added. “I thought in practice he gave really, really good effort as did everybody. It’s all been positive so far.”
“I think it definitely will be different because, well, it was tough, man. When you’re going through rehab and when you’re finally able to step on the court, three minutes goes by, four minutes by and … you gotta get subbed out. It was a lot,” Williamson said.
“I tried to make the most of the situation and I think I did the best that I possibly could. But it’s going to be a lot different.”
“I want to show that I’m a basketball player. I’ll do whatever the team needs me to do on offense or defense no matter what it is to win. I’m just a competitor,” Williamson said.
“When I’m healthy and competing, I’m just a different kind of player. I think that’s the player everyone fell in love with.”
