NBA needs Duke basketball legend Zion Williamson for Christmas

Duke basketball alum Zion Williamson can save NBA Christmas Day, and a recent sighting suggests he just may.

NBA Christmas Day viewership has flatlined. With the past six seeing average ratings no higher than 3.0 — a mark the usual five-game slate surpassed six times from 2001 to 2012 — only former Duke basketball one-and-done Zion Williamson could provide enough juice for a spike this year.

But the 2019 NBA Draft’s No. 1 overall pick is still recovering from an Oct. 21 surgery to repair his right lateral meniscus. And the team’s initial timetable for Williamson’s return/debut (six to eight weeks) expired Monday.

“It’s not anything we’re going to rush,” New Orleans Pelicans head coach Alvin Gentry said on Friday, per NOLA.com’s Christian Clark. “I think he’s dying to be back on the floor. I think we’ve also got to be extra careful and extra cautious that we don’t rush anything.

“Eventually, he’ll get out there when the time is right.”

Evidently, the time was right for the franchise to release a Twitter tease on Tuesday:

https://twitter.com/PelicansNBA/status/1206982581394251783

Even if Williamson is unlikely to suit up at the Denver Nuggets on Dec. 25, expect the NBA and ESPN to push the narrative that the 6-foot-6, 284-pound former SportsCenter Top 10 mainstay might play up until the 10:30 p.m. tipoff (ESPN).

After all, other than Duke basketball fans tuning in to see Blue Devils galore — Denver’s Mason Plumlee plus New Orleans’ Brandon Ingram, J.J. Redick, Frank Jackson, and Jahlil Okafor — few on the East Coast are likely to stay up to watch a Zion-less Pelicans squad with currently the league’s second-worst record (6-21).

And the 5:00 p.m. game (ESPN) — the Houston Rockets play at the Golden State Warriors, who are 5-23 and remain without the services of the Splash Brothers — isn’t exactly what the NBA was hoping for.

Sure, the Christmas Day schedule includes matchups between each conference’s current top two teams: the Philadelphia 76ers host the Milwaukee Bucks at 2:30 p.m. (ABC), and the two Los Angeles franchises square off at 8:00 p.m. (ABC and ESPN). Also, the noon game (ESPN) — the Boston Celtics at the defending champion Toronto Raptors — is somewhat attractive.

Yet without giving the masses what they’re dreaming of — a Zion Williamson Christmas — a revival to ratings will just have to wait until next Christmas.

Stay tuned to Ball Durham for more updates, analyses, opinions, and predictions regarding Zion Williamson and other Blue Devils in the NBA.