Three Things NBA Preview: New Orleans Pelicans
As I detailed a few weeks ago, I’m once again re-appropriating the Three Things I Noticed on League Pass format to preview the upcoming season. Instead of three things I noticed, it’ll be something more along the lines of three things I’m looking forward to, interested in, or want to see. Some of them might be narrative-based, some might be stats, and some might include video. But they'll all be focused on the 2025-26 campaign.
The schedule for those posts will be as follows (podcasts previewing each division with Mo Dakhil are in parentheses):
- Atlantic Division (BOS, BKN, NYK, PHI, TOR) (Podcast)
- Central Division (CHI, CLE, DET, IND, MIL) (Podcast)
- Southeast Division (ATL, CHA, MIA, ORL, WAS) (Podcast)
- Pacific Division (GSW, LAC, LAL, PHX, SAC) (Podcast)
- Northwest Division (DEN, MIN, OKC, POR, UTA) (Podcast)
- Southwest Division (DAL, HOU, MEM, NOP, SAS) (Podcast)
So without further ado, let's get to the New Orleans Pelicans, whose season crumbled under the weight of a thousand injuries and then... well, you already know what happened this offseason.
Where are we going?
I wrote a lot about the Pellies and the craziest trade of 2025 earlier this offseason:
New Orleans traded its unprotected 2026 first-round pick (the better of either its own pick or Milwaukee's) to Atlanta to move up from No. 23 to No. 13 and select Derik Queen, who promptly suffered a torn scapholunate ligament in his wrist during summer league and had surgery in july. he'll be re-evaluated early in training camp.
What happens with Queen in his career is frankly neither here nor there at the moment. The fact is that New Orleans gave up an unprotected pick to get the No. 13 pick in this year's draft.
That means the Pelicans are betting that BOTH they and the Bucks will either a) make the playoffs or b) lose in the play-in with one of the two best records among play-in teams and then not move up at all in the lottery. If either team misses the play-in, the pick the Pelicans give up will be better than the one they acquired. If either team makes the play-in and loses, the pick they give up will be better than the one they acquired unless they end up at No. 13 or 14 after the lottery balls are drawn. And if they end up at 13, then they'll still have given up the No. 13 and 23 picks in exchange for one No. 13 pick. They'll have given away No. 23 for free.
Basically, the Pelicans made a very big bet that both they and the Bucks will be finishing in the top six of their respective conferences.
Assuming Giannis Antetokounmpo doesn't request a trade in the next few weeks, Milwaukee has a pretty decent chance of accomplishing that. But New Orleans itself? The Pellies finished 21-61 and in 14th place in the West last year. They have to surpass at least eight teams to jump into the top six.
The two teams directly ahead of them, the Spurs and Blazers, unquestionably got better this offseason. Phoenix got worse, but also finished FIFTEEN games ahead of the Pels last year. Dallas is in limbo without Kyrie Irving, but added Cooper Flagg. Sacramento is an incredibly weird team, but again, was NINETEEN games ahead of New Orleans last year. Each of Memphis, Golden State, and Minnesota won more than twice as many games as did the Pelicans a year ago. Even if the Pelicans double their win total, which would be pretty crazy, they'd probably have to win several more games to jump into the top six. There's no way merely 42 wins is getting you out of the play-in in the West.
So, why does this team think it's a playoff team?
It turns out that the Pelicans might not actually think they're a playoff team because Joe Dumars said he doesn't want to put that expectation on them. Which means he at least somewhat expects to have traded No. 23 this year and a pick that is better than No. 13 next year, to move up to No. 13 this year. You can't make this stuff up, folks. Anyway, you can read the full post right here.
