The New Orleans Pelicans have finally fired head coach Willie Green after a 2-10 start to the season. Green, who managed a 150-190 record in his five seasons with the organization, was long rumored as being on the hot seat after allegedly losing the locker room and failing to produce consistent results.
Now the search begins for a new head coach (James Borrego has been promoted to interim coach). But one has to wonder if that’s where the organization needs to start.
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Rotten core
It’s no secret leading Pelicans executive Joe Dumars has done a miserable job so far. Not only did he trade back Indiana’s own 2026 pick during the playoffs (before the franchise lost Tyrese Haliburton to an Achilles tear) for the 23rd selection in the 2025 draft, he also sent out the aforementioned 23rd pick, plus the best of either Milwaukee’s or New Orleans’ own 2026 selection, to Atlanta for the 13th selection, prompting the Hawks to reportedly call Dumars to confirm that he did indeed offer that package.
[Get more Pelicans news: New Orleans team feed]
Those two trades could set the franchise back years, especially as Indiana is 1-11, and the Pelicans themselves are near the bottom of the league.
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Of course, issues started long before those trades.
Zion Williamson, the team’s primary star, has often found himself on the shelf due to injury or weight-related issues. While he’s been extremely productive when healthy, the organization flat-out hasn’t been able to rely on him, nor has it ever built anything functional around him, seeing as he’s not a floor-spacer, nor a particularly effective rebounder or defender. The fact that Williamson was accused of rape over the summer isn’t making the situation any better, and it’s something that lingers over the franchise.
Team owner Gayle Benson, 78, also owns the New Orleans Saints, and both fan bases have been fed up with the lack of competent leadership for years. Last season, the Pelicans and Saints combined to win 26 games, and Benson’s decision to keep Dumars around after his two disastrous trades is frankly puzzling. As such, the Pelicans’ problems are deeply rooted in ownership, which means those problems will likely persist for a while, as Benson is refusing to sell or hold executives accountable.
What does the future hold?
Fans are currently watching a product that is severely flawed and won’t get significantly better until the team’s young players, Derik Queen and Jeremiah Fears, develop further. Both are enjoying solid rookie seasons, but neither seem to have genuine superstar upside, although Fears would be the better bet between the two, if anything.
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With Williamson still around, and the organization also trading for Jordan Poole, there isn’t a lot of offensive symmetry these days. Trey Murphy (19.8 points, 6.8 rebounds) is arguably the team’s best and certainly most reliable player these days, but he also represents its best value.
If the Pelicans are to somehow get control back of their own future selections, it’ll more than likely take trading of him and Herb Jones to reacquire lost draft capital. That will only make the organization worse, and there’s no guarantee Dumars can be trusted to even hit on those picks if they do get them back.
His evaluation of Queen, whom he drafted through the actions of the two trades with Indiana and Atlanta, was at best optimistic and enormously shortsighted. This isn’t to put anything at the feet of Queen, who didn’t ask for the Pelicans to go through all of that, only to be selected 13th. Queen, unfortunately, represents the actions of Dumars, but he is not the cause of them, and therein lies a big difference.
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So, where do the Pelicans go from here? There isn’t a good answer.
They don’t control their own future, their star is once again sidelined and may have prolonged legal issues, and in the meantime, the clock is ticking on when some of their other productive players are getting fed up with the status quo. Murphy is already 25 and entering his prime. Does he want to stick around long term, or could he eventually seek a trade in order to find himself in a situation that suits him better?
The fact that no one — including the Pelicans — could even question such a desire is where the problem lies. As a franchise, the Pelicans have become a full-on laughingstock, and they have no one to blame but themselves.
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