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Zion Williamson final injury status for Pelicans vs Trail Blazers
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Zion Williamson final injury status for Pelicans vs Trail Blazers

The New Orleans Pelicans face the Portland Trail Blazers at home on Monday night, and the team listed star forward Zion Williamson as questionable before the game. Williamson missed Sunday’s game against the Atlanta Hawks with a strained hamstring. It was the first game he missed this season after playing a record 70 games last year.

New Orleans announced hours before tipoff that Zion would miss his second consecutive game with a sore hamstring. Williamson has been injured in the past, missing the postseason last year after injuring himself during a Play-In tournament against the Los Angeles Lakers.

The previous season, the former Duke played in just 29 games after suffering a hamstring injury in January against the Philadelphia 76ers. He will miss the rest of the season.

The injuries are piling up for the Pelicans, who are already without Dejounte Murray, CJ McCollum, Herb Jones and Trey Murphy III. That puts even more pressure on forward Brandon Ingram to score with so much of the Pelicans’ firepower on the bench. Ingram has three 30-point games this season.

Coach Willie Green and his staff have to get creative to put together an offense until some of their best players are back on the field. New Orleans will rely on role players like Jose Alvarado and Brandon Boston, Jr. to start the offense alongside Ingram. Shooting guard Jordan Hawkins is also ruled out of Monday night’s game.

Portland and New Orleans have already played twice this year, splitting a two-game set in Portland. The Pelicans are 2-1 at home this season.