Zion Williamson made his return to the court on Wednesday night. It just wasn’t enough to get the New Orleans Pelicans back on track.

Williamson was in the starting lineup after missing several games due to a hamstring injury on Wednesday night at the Smoothie King Center. He dropped 14 points along with 6 rebounds and 5 assists, but he couldn’t lead the Pelicans past Nikola Jokić and the Denver Nuggets, who held on late to grab a 125-118 win.

Williamson suffered a Grade 1 hamstring strain earlier this month, which knocked him out for eight games. The injury is just the latest for the former No. 1 overall pick in his career. Since he entered the league in 2019, Williamson has been available for less than 46% of possible regular-season games in New Orleans. A hamstring injury caused him to miss a significant portion of last season, too. He played in just 30 games.

Williamson has faced plenty of criticism about his conditioning, or apparent lack thereof, and he has clauses in his contract regarding his weight and body-fat percentage. He entered this season appearing to be in the best shape of his career, though, and said in September that he hasn’t felt “like this since college, high school, where I can walk into a gym and I feel good.”

Williamson looked solid out of the gate. He had nine points and three rebounds at halftime, and kept the Pelicans within four points at the break. His first bucket back was an easy two-handed slam, too.

But Williamson largely stalled out after that. He didn't score at all in the third quarter, and had just five points in the second half as the Nuggets quickly pulled away. They out-scored New Orleans by 10 points in the third quarter to grab a double digit lead by the end of the period, and then held on to pick up the seven-point win.

Jokić had a triple-double to lead the Nuggets, who have won eight of their last nine games and sit at 11-3 on the year. He finished with 28 points, 12 assists and 11 rebounds, though he had nine of the team's 20 turnovers himself. Peyton Watson added 32 points and 12 rebounds after he shot 5-of-9 from behind the arc.

Derik Queen led New Orleans with 30 points and nine rebounds in the loss, and Trey Murphy finished with 23 points. Jeremiah Fears had 16 points after he shot 7-of-15 from the field.

Entering Wednesday’s contest, Williamson had averaged 22.8 points and 6.8 rebounds in the five games that he’s played in for the Pelicans. The team lost six straight games in his absence, and head coach Willie Green was fired Saturday after the team started out the season with just a 2-10 record.

The Pelicans, who have now lost seven straight, sit at 2-13. That’s the worst record in the Western Conference, and among the worst in the league as a whole. They’ll take on the Dallas Mavericks next on Friday.

While the Pelicans have much larger issues facing them this season, Williamson’s return can only help move them in the right direction.