The Pelicans Injury Report: Are Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson PLAYING on Thurday’ game against the Hornets

The Pelicans Injury Report: Are Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson PLAYING on Thurday' game against the Hornets

When New Orleans Pelicans play the Charlotte Hornets at home on Thursday night, they will try to take advantage of another team that is out of the playoff race.

The latest Injury Report for the New Orleans Pelicans vs. the Charlotte Hornets

FOR THE PELICANS

Tuesday night, the Spurs were short on players, but New Orleans beat them 119-84, making their home record 23-13. At the time, they were 35–37. The Pelicans hope to improve their record against Charlotte before going on a four-game road trip against teams from the Western Conference.

  • Brandon Ingram

In 31 minutes, Brandon Ingram scored 32 points (10-16 FG, 2-2 3Pt, 10-10 FT), had four rebounds, seven assists, and one block in the 119-84 win over the Spurs on Tuesday.

Ingram hurt his ankle in mid-March and missed two games, but he has been on a roll ever since. He has averaged 27.8 points, 7.0 assists, 4.0 rebounds, and 36.5 minutes on the court in his last four games.

Even though the score was so bad on Wednesday and he didn’t play as much, he shot well and led the Pelicans in scoring.

Recent games haven’t shown that the 25-year-ankle old’s injury is bothering him, and he should continue to play a big role as the season winds down.

  • Zion Williamson

All-Star forward Zion Williamson won’t play because he hasn’t been able to play since January 2, when he hurt his hamstring.

The Pelicans said on Wednesday that Williamson, who had a setback recently, can now go back to playing on the court and will be checked again in two weeks.

  • Jose Alvarado

Alvarado’s right tibia has been getting better, and he will be checked again in two to three weeks.

Because of a stress fracture in his right tibia, Alvarado has missed the last 10 games. His new schedule makes it unlikely that he will be back for the regular season, but he could play again if the Pelicans make the Play-In Tournament.

FOR THE HORNETS

The Hornets (23-50) are out of the playoff race, but they beat Indiana 115-109 on the road on Monday night after being down by 21 points in the first half.

Charlotte beat Indiana 19–4 in the last six minutes to end a four-game losing streak.

The Charlotte bench players lost 45-18, but the Hornets scored 35 points when Indiana turned the ball over 22 times.

  • Mark Williams

Mark Williams won’t play in New Orleans on Thursday because his thumb still hurts.

Williams will miss his sixth game in a row on Thursday because he hurt his thumb. Since no one has heard that he is getting better, he should also be considered unlikely to play in Friday’s game in Dallas.

The Charlotte Observer’s Roderick Boone says that Martin (knee) is still not ready to play, but he is trying to get back before the Hornets’ last regular-season game on April 9 against Cleveland.

Martin has been dealing with knee pain since training camp. He only played in one of the Hornets’ five preseason games and only one minute of the Hornets’ first regular-season game against San Antonio before being taken out.

In the end, he had arthroscopic surgery about a month after the injury. He missed 37 straight games before coming back on Jan. 4 against Memphis. But he only took part in six races before being put away again.

Boone says that Martin’s rehab includes strengthening, specific agility drills and exercises, ice and stim procedures, and some light on-court work, but he’s had trouble making any progress. Martin told Boone in an interview, “It’s hard because as a player, no one knows my body better than I do.” “No one wants me to play more than I do, and it’s hard to sit here and watch, especially for this long. Right now, the only thing I can do is keep up with my rehab and make sure I’m feeling good.”

  • LaMelo Ball

The Associated Press reports that Ball said on Monday that he hopes to be 100 percent healthy for training camp in September.

Ball is still getting better after having surgery on March 1 to fix a broken right ankle, which ended his season.

Even though he sprained his left ankle three times over the course of the season, he may have broken his right ankle as a compensation injury.

With this in mind, Ball said that he might need to wear braces on his ankles in the future, but for now, he wants to see how his rehabilitation goes before making any decisions about this for the 2023–24 season.

The next season will be the last year of Ball’s rookie contract, but even if he has trouble staying on the court in 2022-23, the Hornets may still want to sign a long-term deal with the point guard that pays well.