Pelicans VP: Zion Williamson 'Wasn't Physically Cleared to Play' Before Thunder Game

New Orleans Pelicans vice president of basketball operations David Griffin cleared the air Friday regarding why superstar forward Zion Williamson did not play in the team's season-ending play-in game loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday.

Zion, who missed the final three-and-a-half months of the season because of a hamstring strain, said before the play-in that he was feeling fine and would play "when I feel like Zion," per ESPN's Andrew Lopez.

In response to that, Griffin noted that while Williamson may have said he felt fine, he was not cleared by doctors to play against OKC:

"He came up here the other day and said 'physically, I'm fine.' 'Physically I'm fine' means 'I'm not currently injured.' He wasn't physically cleared to play basketball. He was playing one-on-none. He went up and windmill-dunked pregame. That's not the skill set that makes you capable of playing 5-on-5 basketball. So for people to now say, 'He chose not to play basketball,' that's nonsense. That's not factual. But that's a way more interesting story than he chose not to play basketball. That's the truth."

Williamson has been out since Jan. 2 with the hamstring ailment. The Pelicans announced April 7 he would not take part in the play-in tournament and that his playoff participation would be in in doubt as well if they were to advance, per Shams Charania of Stadium and The Athletic:

New Orleans went 42-40 to qualify for the play-in tournament, but it fell 123-118 to the Thunder, thus ending their season.

Williamson was a major loss for the Pels down the stretch. In 29 games this season, he averaged 26.0 points on 60.8 percent shooting and 7.0 rebounds per game. The Pelicans could have been a legitimate Western Conference title contender with him. Instead, they were on the playoff fringe for much of the season with Williamson missing 53 games.

Still, there's plenty of talent sans Williamson, including leading scorers Brandon Ingram and CJ McCollum. Players such as Trey Murphy III and Larry Nance Jr. stepped up in his absence as well, providing hope that New Orleans will enjoy significantly more success next season, particularly if Zion can stay healthy.