Zion Williamson and the New Orleans Pelicans have been rolling as of late, as the team currently boasts a record of 39-26, good for 5th place in the vaunted Western Conference playoff picture. Williamson has been able to put together the healthiest season of his young career so far in 2023-24, and as a result, the Pelicans figure to be true threats to make a deep playoff run when the postseason gets underway next month.
Still, despite the talent New Orleans possesses along with the star power of Williamson himself has, there seems to be a lack of discussion of the Pelicans in the national NBA media discourse. One person who is doing his part to fix that problem is none other than former Boston Celtics NBA champion Paul Pierce.
“Watch out for the [Pelicans]… I keep saying this. [They’re] peaking right now too, ain’t nobody talking about them… I think they’re gonna be in the Western Conference Finals,” said Pierce, per All The Smoke Productions (via ClutchPoints on X, the social media platform formerly referred to as Twitter).
The Pelicans do profile as one of the smaller market teams in the NBA. However, all of that was supposed to change with Williamson’s arrival back in 2019, and for a while, it did, as New Orleans received a ton of national TV games over the star’s first few seasons. However, just as Williamson is finally putting things together and staying healthy, the national discourse around the Pelicans is ironically dying out.
New Orleans can force people to pay attention with a deep run in the playoffs this spring.
More must-reads: