New Orleans Pelicans
The 2024-25 New Orleans Pelicans can be defined as drowning in Lake Pontchartrain.
What did we learn?
There are seasons from hell, and then there is the 2024-25 New Orleans Pelicans.
A lot of teams dealt with a lot of injuries this season, but no team was as snake bitten as these Pellies.
Injuries barely left them with a team. Our Power Rankings entry penned on Dec. 1 stated:
All you need to know is the Pelicans recently played a game without: Zion, Ingram, Dejounte, McCollum, Herb Jones, Trey Murphy, Jordan Hawkins and Jose Alvarado. … Yep.
And it never got better. It was a lost season to the highest degree.
Zion looked in shape and slimmer, although he didn’t appear as powerful or destructive as consistently. Perhaps because his team was so ramshackled. Z still had some stretches where you could see that 2023-24 All-Star version.
But then he got hurt. Again. On multiple occasions. Again. He played just 30 games. Zion has only played more than 30 games in two out of his six seasons in the league.
The Dejounte Murray trade and fit with this team was not it, especially with how great Dyson Daniels was in Atlanta all year. It should be noted that Zion, Ingram and Murray never even played one game together.
David Griffin decided to finally move on from Brandon Ingram. Yet it was far too late. The value of the return was severely diminished.
Griff once had a nice pile of assets at his disposal on a Sam Presti lite level, but it has dwindled significantly. And Griff was given the boot.
The one silver lining, the sliver of light shining through the dark ominous clouds, was Trey Murphy. Trey Murphy unleashed was a great time — and then he suffered a season-ending injury as well. The final nail in the coffin that had been laid before Thanksgiving.
By the end of the season it was a WHO HE!? convention.
We’re talking Kelly Olynyk running with Kylor Kelley, Karlo Matkovic, Keion Brooks Jr. and Antonio Reeves (who actually dropped 34 points off the bench in Cleveland on a random Wednesday in November).
This Pelicans team even had Mo Bamba and Elfrid Payton getting some run.
The Pelicans had 16 different leading scorers in a game this season (!!):
Brandon Ingram
Jordan Hawkins
CJ McCollum
Zion Williamson
Brandon Boston
Trey Murphy III
Antonio Reeves
Dejounte Murray
Yves Missi
Kelly Olynyk
Karlo Matkovic
Bruce Brown
Keion Brooks Jr.
Jose Alvarado
Lester Quinones
Jamal Cain
That has got to be a record, right!?
That list alone should be a clear depiction of how bleak it was for b-ball in NOLA this year.
But Joe Dumars is in as the new president of basketball operations, hired the day after Griff was fired.
Dumars is a winner and Louisiana native.
Perhaps he can save the Pellies.
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Additional Notes
Let the record show that on a random early-January Friday night, CJ McCollum drilled 10 3’s en route to scoring 50 points vs. the Wizards. (It’s always the Wizards.)
Rookie Yves Missi was an excellent offensive rebounder and even made the NBA All-Rookie Second Team. Missi also had a power dunk on Zach Edey with Babs boots on ground in Memphis.
In his six seasons with the Pelicans, Brandon Ingram is currently No. 7 in all-time franchise Win Shares, behind one Zion Williamson. (Trey Murphy is three spots behind Ingram after just four seasons.
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Did our preseason Over/Under prediction hit?
We still love Zion but this center-less roster and vibes ain’t it. Under 45.5 wins.
Pelicans 2024-25 record: (21-61)
YUP. As sweat-free as they come.
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What’s Next?
The No. 7 overall pick in the draft. How about Jeremiah Fears or Tre Johnson?
Our guy Bobby Marks of ESPN tells us that trading Brandon Ingram at least got the Pels under the luxury tax for next season. But they still need to shed some money to avoid going over if they are going to re-sign Bruce Brown or make other moves.
Something to monitor: Bobby also tells us that “The second-most-used lineup of Murray, McCollum, Murphy, Williamson and Missi was plus-13.7 points per 100 possessions.”
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Favorite Pelicans Highlight of the 2024-25 Season:
Those passes, though! We need more point-Zion.
Trey Murphy UNLEASHED.
