Pelicans’ Zion Williamson admits what’s ‘frustrating’ amid injury return

The shorthanded New Orleans Pelicans finally snapped their nine-game losing streak on Monday night in a 143-130 takedown of the Chicago Bulls. Zion Williamson did lead the team in scoring, looking like the healthy version of himself once more. In only his third game back after a lengthy absence brought forth by a hamstring strain, Williamson recorded 29 points on 8-14 shooting from the field in a performance that can only be seen as promising for their future prospects.

However, Williamson is clearly not yet at the peak of his powers. The Pelicans forward even expressed his frustration regarding a certain limitation imposed upon him even though he’s already played three games upon his return from a hamstring injury.

“I feel great. I felt great tonight. Minutes restriction is frustrating but I will make it happen with the minutes I have,” Williamson said in his postgame interview, via Pelicans Film Room on X (formerly Twitter).

"I felt great tonight. Minutes restriction is frustrating but I will make it happen with the minutes I have"

— Zion Williamson on his return from injury pic.twitter.com/S3lNfwkhad

— Pelicans Film Room (@PelsFilmRoom) November 25, 2025

It’s quite interesting that, despite playing 30 minutes on Monday, Williamson was apparently still under a minutes restriction. Not too many teams would have given him that many minutes considering how injury-prone he’s been his entire career; one could simply look at Paul George’s situation with the Philadelphia 76ers and recognize that Williamson is not quite under a strict minutes restriction.

Be that as it may, these frustrations seem to be just bringing the best out of Williamson. If Williamson keeps up this level of play and manages to stay healthy, expect the Pelicans to lift that minutes restriction soonest.

Pelicans are simply being cautious with Zion Williamson

Williamson has played in 70 games in a single season just once in his career. And during that campaign, he ended up suffering an injury during the play-in tournament. That’s how pitiful Williamson’s injury history has been.

Thus, it should not come as a surprise to anyone that the Pelicans would be cautious with Williamson. The 3-15 Pelicans do need to turn things around considering that they’re going to fork over their first-round pick in 2026 to the Atlanta Hawks, but preserving Williamson’s long-term health should remain the priority for them moving forward.

The Pelicans will look to keep the winning ways going on Wednesday when they take on the Memphis Grizzlies in NBA Cup action.

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