Pelicans' Zion Williamson Cleared for Light Shooting Amid Knee Injury Recovery

New Orleans Pelicans rookie No. 1 overall pick Zion Williamson is inching toward his regular-season NBA debut after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery on Oct. 21. 

Williamson doesn't have a specific return date circled, according to New Orleans Pelicans head coach Alvin Gentry, but an encouraging update on the 19-year-old forward surfaced on Tuesday:

The Pelicans also shared a video of Williamson getting some shots up:

Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations David Griffin provided insight into Williamson's rehabilitation process on Dec. 6: 

"I think six weeks (from Oct. 21) was three days ago. He continues to progress. He's progressing very well. He feels very good about his process. And eight weeks is several days from now, and if we get outside of that, it will be because he hasn't met the metrics for return-to-play that are laid out for him and every player on our team. He will not be treated any differently in terms of the return-to-play metrics.

"Now we have been much more cautious with him in terms of how quickly we've ramped him up from stage-to-stage because he's 19 and he's still growing and he was 285 pounds when he had the surgery. That's a different [type of] player, that's a different [type of] person. It's a population of one. So we're obviously going to treat him differently as we ramp him through the stages. But there's been no other setback or mission afoot except to get him back on the court as quickly as possible."

Expectations for Williamson have been gargantuan since New Orleans used the top pick in June to select him. The Duke product set college basketball on fire as a freshman last season, averaging 22.6 points, 8.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 2.1 steals and 1.8 blocks across 33 games.

Any team would take a cautious approach with a top overall pick, and New Orleans is no exception. But Williamson's athleticism, especially with his 6'6", 284-pound frame, is his most intriguing asset. The Pelicans don't want to risk losing that aspect of his game long-term by rushing him back too soon.

Without Williamson, the Pelicans' best frontcourt player has been Brandon Ingram. The 22-year-old is the team's leading scorer at 25 points per game. Pairing the two together will add a much-needed layer to New Orleans' 19th-rated offense.

Williamson's debut, whenever it is, will be none too soon as the 6-21 Pelicans are riding a franchise-worst 12-game losing streak into Tuesday night's action.