Zion Williams injury update 10/21, 4:46 p.m.

The Pelicans announced that Zion Williamson had surgery on Monday to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee. He will be sidelined six to eight weeks, per Adrian Wojnarowski.

New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson has been putting together an impressive preseason, but a knee injury is cutting it short, and will cost him regular season minutes. The Pelicans ruled Williamson out on Friday with soreness in his right knee, and now Adrian Wojnarowski is reporting that while the injury is not severe, Williamson will miss some period of weeks to start the regular season.

A severe injury has been ruled out for Zion Williamson’s right knee, but he is expected to miss period of weeks to start regular season, league sources tell ESPN. Pels are clearly treating injury with an abundance of caution but there’s no shortage of confidence on full recovery.

Williamson was a sizable favorite at DraftKings Sportsbook to win NBA Rookie of the Year honors. DraftKings Sportsbook installed him at -162, ahead of Ja Morant (+400) and R.J. Barrett (+600). The odds will likely change to some degree, but given that Williamson could be back within the first month of the regular season, it makes sense he remains the favorite.

The Pelicans have +6000 odds to win the NBA title. They were longshots even with Williamson, so this injury won’t help there. But for Williamson’s rookie year development, this could be a lot worse.

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