Duke basketball: Zion Williamson leaves NBA bubble due to emergency

Former Duke basketball star Zion Williamson has left the NBA bubble to attend to a family emergency but is expected back at some point.

The New Orleans Pelicans have announced on Thursday afternoon that star rookie Zion Williamson has left the NBA bubble to attend to a family emergency.

Williamson is expected to rejoin the team at some point during the NBA’s restart but will have to undergo the NBA’s safety precautions upon his return which includes testing negative for COVID-19 multiple times and self quarantine for a specific amount of days.

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According to multiple reports, the length of Williamson’s quarantine is unknown at the present time after the league is able to gather more information regarding his departure from the bubble.

Zion Williamson is a critical part to the Pelicans’ chances of making the Western Conference Playoffs as the team will have eight regular season games to make up three and a half games on the Memphis Grizzlies for the No. 8 seed.

Because of a knee injury that kept the former No. 1 overall pick out for the majority of the season, Williamson was limited to just 19 games but is averaging 23.6 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per game.

The 20-year old was scheduled to take center stage in the first game in the league’s restart as the New Orleans Pelicans are schedule to take on the Utah Jazz on July 30 in the first game of a doubleheader that also features the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers.

ALSO READ: Zion Williamson shows no rust at first practice in bubble

Zion Williamson wasn’t the first player to leave the bubble as Sacramento’s Richaun Holmes left the bubble for a food delivery and is now is self quarantine while the Clippers’ Montrezl Harrell also left the bubble to attend to a family emergency.

ALSO READ: Duke target Patrick Baldwin Jr. returns to where he belongs

Hopefully everything will be fine with the Williamson family and Zion will be able to rejoin his teammates back down in Orlando sooner rather than later.

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