Published October 18, 2019, 10:08 AM By Agence France-Presse

Zion Williamson, who has been on fire in the NBA pre-season after being made the top draft pick by the New Orleans Pelicans, will miss the team’s final pre-season game with a sore right knee.

New Orleans Pelicans rookie Zion Williamson, the top pick in the NBA draft, will sit out the team’s last pre-season game with a sore right knee (AFP Photo/Jonathan Bachman)

Williamson has put up sensational numbers in the pre-season, but his professional debut at Madison Square Garden is on hold after New Orleans tweeted he would miss Friday’s game against the Knicks.

Williamson missed the final six games of the Duke University regular season last year after spraining his knee in a game against North Carolina.

Williamson has averaged 23.3 points in 27.3 minutes per game in the pre-season, shooting an astonishing 71 percent from the field.

“He’s a monster,” Knicks coach David Fizdale said Thursday, before he knew his team wouldn’t be going up against Williamson this week.

“It’s exactly what I think everybody thought he was going to be. He’s a beast. He’s just going to continue to get better and better. We understand that kid is a heck of a player.”

The Pelicans said that Williamson did not make the trip with the team to New York and is being evaluated.

The NBA season tips off on Tuesday with two games. The Pelicans are due to play the reigning champion Raptors in Toronto.

Tags: Duke , Knicks , New Orleans , New Orleans Pelicans , New York Knicks , Pelicans , Zion Williamson