Zion Williamson to play in short bursts in Pelicans’ bubble opener

Zion Williamson will be playing in the New Orleans Pelicans’ first game of the NBA Bubble restart on Thursday.

Williamson was away from the NBA’s bubble environment in Orlando on an excused absence and returned last week. He cleared quarantine on Tuesday and was able to practice with his team. There were questions about whether he would be back up to playing shape in time for Thursday’s game against the Utah Jazz, and he will.

ESPN’s Malika Andrews says Williamson will play in short bursts for the team’s first game.

This is not unlike the situation when Williamson made his season debut in January. He was returning from a knee injury and got eased back, playing just 18 minutes in his first game back.

Williamson has averaged 23.6 points and 6.8 rebounds on 58.9 percent shooting this season.