New Orleans star forward Zion Williamson sat out Thursday night against Cleveland because an unspecified illness as the Pelicans deal with a flu bug.
Cavaliers All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell also missed his second straight game with an illness.
Pelicans coach Willie Green said Williamson did not travel with the Pelicans. The 2019 No. 1 overall pick was one of three players listed as having non-COVID illnesses on the injury report. Jonas Valanciunas and Herb Jones were the others.
“It's that time of year where, you have some illnesses going around all the teams,” Green said. “We got some guys dealing with a little bit of a bit of a bug. That's kind of where we are.”
Williamson was listed as questionable on the injury report before the Pelicans changed his status about two hours before tip-off — even though he wasn't the team. He's averaging 22 points, 5.8 rebounds and 4.6 assists in 23 games.
Williamson scored 13 points in the Pelicans’ 115-113 loss to Memphis on Tuesday night.
Mitchell also sat out Wednesday night in a victory over Utah, his former team. Mitchell's absence means the Cavs were again without their top three scorers — Mitchell (27.7 points), Darius Garland (20.7) and Evan Mobley (16.0).
Garland sustained a broken jaw last week and Mobley had knee surgery. Both are expected to be sidelined until February.
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