Zion Williamson is on track to make his long-awaited NBA debut Jan. 22 at home against the San Antonio Spurs.

The Pelicans want the No. 1 overall pick to get at least one more "fairly intensive" practice under his belt before he returns to game action, Pelicans vice president of basketball operations David Griffin said. If all goes well, he will play next week for the first time since suffering a knee injury that has robbed him of half of his rookie season.

"Yesterday, the work Zion did was as good as I’ve seen to this point — better than he was in the preseason,” Griffin said. “We feel like he will be a bigger, better version of himself. A healthier version of himself going forward.”

On Wednesday morning, Griffin, Williamson and the Pelicans medical staff sat down and agreed upon a return date.

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Williamson has now gone through three full practices since he tore the lateral meniscus in his right knee. The injury occurred in the preseason. He underwent surgery Oct. 21, the day before the team’s regular-season opener.

The Pelicans initially provided a six- to eight-week timetable for his return, but they have exercised caution in bringing him back in an effort to prevent future injuries. They have worked with Williamson to improve they call his “kinetic chain.”

“It starts with being more flexible,” Griffin said. “Once you make somebody more flexible, you have to give them the strength to control that flexibility. That’s been a dance, it really has been. But he’s been able to do some things physically that he wasn’t able to do before. Particularly because of the amount of flexion he has in his ankles and his hips. He’s in a good place.”

Any speculation Williamson might miss the entire season was unfounded, Griffin added.

“The nature of his injury wasn’t such that that was called for,” Griffin said. “Zion knew from the very beginning that he was going to be able to play, and he wanted to play. We told you he hasn’t been overly happy with me that he hasn’t been able to play yet. There was never a thought that he wouldn’t be able to play.”

Willliamson went through his first full practice since surgery on Jan. 2. Afterward he said, “If it was up to me, I would have been out there two weeks ago.”

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The Pelicans struggled out of the gates without him. They got off to a 1-7 start. They lost a franchise-record 13 games but have since rebounded by winning nine of 13.

Injuries have taken a significant toll. Starters Lonzo Ball, Jrue Holiday, Brandon Ingram and Derrick Favors have combined to miss 38 games. At the midpoint of the season, Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry has already used 17 different starting lineups.

“It’d be disingenuous to say I have a good feel for where we are,” Griffin said. “Frankly, a lot of the pieces are going to look better in the presence of Zion. We built the team knowing what he’s going to look like in that way. In the absence of Derrick Favors for a month of games, you could see we were just searching. I think what we’re all optimistic about coming down the stretch (is) we’re going to be healthier and playing against a schedule that isn’t quite as difficult.”

The Pelicans do not anticipate Williamson playing on the second night of back-to-backs. There are four sets of back-to-backs remaining on their schedule. They will closely monitor Williamson’s workload, but he will not be placed on a minutes restriction.

“It’s not about a hard minutes restriction,” Griffin said. “It’s about what the bursts need to look like. It’s what you’re measuring him by. When you return to play from a serious injury, it’s not going to be a number. He’s going to play in a limited number of bursts, and you’ll judge those all those fairly subjectively in terms of what he looks like.”

The Pelicans (15-26) are in 14th place in the Western Conference but only four games back of the No. 8 seed. They’ll face the Jazz and Clippers in a two-game homestand then travel to Memphis for a Martin Luther King Jr. Day game against the Grizzlies.

After that, they face the Spurs on Jan. 22, which is when Williamson is expected to return.

“While he would have liked to have played already, he was very grateful we were going to put a target on it because I don’t think he gets asked anything by anybody anymore other than, ‘When are you going to play?’” Griffin said. “I think just ending that is probably a blessing.”