New Orleans Pelicans star Zion Williamson is out indefinitely with a fractured ring finger on his left (shooting) hand, and Pelicans executive vice president David Griffin blames the officials for Williamson getting absolutely mauled.
"Im really frustrated because this was avoidable," Griffin said. "We told the NBA through every means available to us through sending in film, through speaking to everybody in the officials department, through the basketball operations department that the way they were officiating Zion was going to get him injured.
"Quite frankly, hes injured now because of the open season that theres been on Zion Williamson in the paint. He has absolutely been mauled in the paint on a regular basis to the point where other players have said to him, 'I'm going to keep doing this to you because they dont call it.' So, theres more violence encouraged in the paint against Zion Williamson than any player Ive seen since Shaq (ONeal.). It was egregious and horrific then, and the same is true now.
New Orleans is currently 1 1/2 games behind San Antonio for the No. 10 seed in the West and a spot in the play-in tournament beginning May 18.
The 6-foot-7 Williamson, in his second season out of Duke after becoming the No. 1 overall pick in 2019, is averaging 27.0 points, 7.2 rebounds and 3.7 assists, but Griffin is beyond frustrated with how he is officiated.
Im particularly disappointed in myself and our organization, he said. We did a very poor job apparently of explaining with the proper sense of urgency how severe this situation was from a league perspective. Thats my fault. This situation is something that very much shouldve been able to be avoided if we were protecting our players in the way they should be in the league. And this was just not done.
Griffin may well get fined for his comments, but others agree with him.
If youre a power player, youre not getting calls appropriately in this league because the league doesnt want that type of game, ESPNs Jeff Van Gundy said on SportsCenter.
ESPNs Adrian Wojnarowski said Denver makes the same complaints about how Nikola Jokic is officiated, and the 76ers have similar complaints about how Joel Embiid is treated.
It is unclear when Williamson may return. The Pelicans have six games remaining beginning Friday night in Philadelphia.
At this point, the Pelicans may have to make the play-in tournament for Williamson to play again this season.
