Zion Williamson aims to conquer 'mental battle' before returning to play.

All-Star forward Zion Williamson said he won’t return to the New Orleans Pelicans’ lineup until he’s confident his body will respond well to the way he wants to play.“Physically, I’m fine,” Williamson, who injured his right hamstring in early January, said Tuesday.

“Now it’s just a matter of when I feel like Zion.“I can pretty much do everything, but it’s just a matter of the level that I was playing at before my hamstring,” Williamson continued. “I don’t want to go out there and be in my own head and affect the team when I can just be on the sideline supporting them more, because I know myself. If I was to go out there, I would be in my head. I would hesitate on certain moves and it could affect the game.”Williamson’s extended absence looms particularly large now, with New Orleans hosting Oklahoma City in a do-or-die, Western Conference play-in game on Wednesday night.

The loser is done for the season while the winner survives to play at least once more on Friday night for the right to enter the first-round of the playoffs as the conference’s eighth seed — and face top-seeded Denver.Williamson said he has to overcome “a little bit of a mental battle” because of a setback in his recovery that prevented him from participating in the All-Star Game.




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