Zion’s injury - a little more explanation.

While I constantly held back from posting to prevent the “bashing”, I’ll post on this topic.

This is an issue Zion has been dealing with for quite some time. Not sure when the initial injury occurred(could have been college or recently). Yes, as rumors say, it’s a meniscus. It’s a torn lateral meniscus. Also has a mildly strained MCL. The testing is to see if he will have a scope performed now or after the season. My guess is that sooner is better than later, but that’s just a guess. To say this could NOT impact him long term would be a lie. Meniscus injuries linger and linger to the point of where surgical intervention is needed. Even after that, fluidity in the knee is reduced. However, this should almost be unnoticeable due to his athleticism. I don’t expect it to limit him in his young years.

The extra testing was for imaging focusing on MCL. Pelicans were worried about a possible MCL, LCL, PCL tear. This goes to show that the injury may have been more acute which could have made symptoms he has been dealing with worse.

I expect him to be out 6-8 weeks if a scope is used.

I expect 3-4 weeks if conservative treatment is used. He will be on limitation when he returns. Expect it.

My guess is he resumes b ball activity in 2 weeks to “test” his knee out. At this time he and the team may opt to trim the meniscus which would put him out 6-8 additional weeks as mentioned. If not, he will return fairly quickly and should be close to normal.

He’s walking and could play now if needed with no noticeable limitation.

CajunMD