Zion out indefinitely with fractured finger, Pelicans' Griffin blames refs

New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson will remain sidelined indefinitely after a CT scan revealed a fractured left ring finger, the team announced Friday.

Williamson may have suffered the injury on Tuesday against the Golden State Warriors. The young phenom briefly exited during the third quarter but was able to return and wound up playing 37 minutes in New Orleans' win.

Pelicans vice president of basketball operations David Griffin expressed his frustration in the wake of Williamson's fracture, blaming the injury on officiating.

"I'm really frustrated because this was avoidable," Griffin told reporters, including The Washington Post's Ben Golliver. "We told the NBA through every means available to us, through sending in film, through speaking to everybody in the officials' department and everybody in basketball operations, that the way they were officiating Zion was going to get him injured.

"Quite frankly, he's injured now because of the open season there's been on Zion Williamson in the paint. He's been absolutely mauled in the paint on a regular basis, to the point that other players have said to him, 'I'm going to keep doing this to you because they don't call it.'"

Griffin also noted the 20-year-old has been playing through an injury to his other hand that likely requires surgery, according to ESPN's Andrew Lopez.

With six regular-season games remaining, Williamson's second NBA campaign has likely come to a close. The first-time All-Star was a dominant force in 2020-21, averaging 27 points on 61.1% shooting, 7.2 rebounds, and 3.7 assists in 61 games.

New Orleans enters Friday's game against the Philadelphia 76ers with a 30-36 record and trails the San Antonio Spurs by 1.5 games for the 10th seed in the Western Conference. Teams seeded seventh to 10th will participate in a play-in tournament beginning May 18 to determine the final two playoff berths in their respective conferences.