When the NBA released its schedule for the 2022-23 season, there were a few games that fans circled right away as must-see TV. The holiday schedule on Christmas Day and Martin Luther King Jr. Day are usually a big draw, but nothing gets people going like opening night.
Opening night has a different energy about it as it is the first time some fans will get to see the newest players on their favorite teams take the court. It is also a chance to see players get back on the court that have battled injuries and we haven’t seen for a while.
Zion Williamson of the New Orleans Pelicans is one of those players. Williamson has not played in an NBA game since May 4th, 2021 against the Golden State Warriors. He missed the entire 2021-22 season as he was recovering from a foot injury that was suffered in the offseason.
There were a few times throughout the campaign that it looked like he was getting close to the court. Around Thanksgiving, he was ramping up his activity but the foot became sore, which caused him to stop the rehab and change things up. The closest he got to returning after that was during the 2022 NBA Postseason.
Had the Pelicans advanced beyond their first-round matchup with the Phoenix Suns, there was a chance Williamson would have been on the court. Alas, that didn’t occur as New Orleans was defeated in six games.
But, it shouldn’t be too much longer until we see the No. 1 overall pick from the 2019 NBA Draft back on the court. While making an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show, Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium revealed that Williamson is on pace to be in the lineup on opening night against the Brooklyn Nets.
As Charania added, that game, right now, isn’t slated to be on national television. He was likely correct in his assessment that Brooklyn wasn’t slated to have any games because schedule makers did not know what their roster was going to look like come opening night.
With the announcement that Kevin Durant and the Nets will be continuing their partnership, that is something that needs to change. There is a ton of star power in a matchup between the Pelicans and Nets that the national audience would love to see.
Williamson making his much-anticipated return alongside Brandon Ingram and CJ McCollum against Durant and Kyrie Irving with Ben Simmons also slated to return from injury and make his Nets debut. That is must-see TV for any basketball fan.
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