Former Duke basketball superstar Zion Williamson made his return to the lineup for the New Orleans Pelicans last night after missing 27 games with a hamstring strain.
Williamson has been a star for New Orleans whenever he is on the court, but has struggled to stay healthy for the majority of his career.
He's only eclipsed 70 games played once in his career in 2023-24, and this return from injury was just his seventh game of the 2024-25 season.
In 2022-23 when, he was named a starter on the Western Conference All-Star team as he averaged 26 points on 60.8% shooting from the field. This season was cut short for the star however as he missed the final 45 games of the season with a hamstring injury.
As he's done before, Williamson showed no signs of rust and performed in a big way in his return for the Pelicans. Williamson tallied 22 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, and a block on 9-of-15 shooting from the field in a 104-97 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
He highlighted his return with a ridiculous 360-dunk off of a steal, and it gave Duke basketball fans a lot of nostalgia as the dunk was a replica of a 360-slam Williamson threw down against Clemson during his freshman campaign with the Blue Devils.
This means something to me pic.twitter.com/cITIeag0M5
— Zion O. (@DukeNBA) January 8, 2025
It's incredible how similar that dunk last night was to his throwdown at Duke, and it shows just how dominant Williamson can be on an NBA court when he's available.
Williamson is still working on getting back full-time, as he has been ruled out for the Pelicans' game tonight against the Portland Trail Blazers to continue to rest as he fully recovers from the hamstring strain.
Duke fans hope Williamson can get to a place where he can consistently play and stay healthy, because when he does, he's one of the most unstoppable forces in the entire NBA.