Pelicans dismiss head coach Willie Green

The New Orleans Pelicans have fired head coach Willie Green, NBA insider Chris Haynes reports. James Borrego will take over as the team’s interim coach, ESPN's Marc J. Spears tweets.

The change comes as no surprise. New Orleans has lost four straight and sits at the bottom of the Western Conference standings with a 2-10 record.

It was reported on Friday that they were having “serious” internal discussions about Green’s future. Team owner Gayle Benson told NOLA.com that any decision on Green’s job status would be made by executive VP of basketball operations Joe Dumars.

The Pelicans released a statement, confirming Green’s dismissal and the hiring of Borrego.

“After careful evaluation, we have made the difficult decision to make a change at head coach,” Dumars said in the statement. “I have the utmost respect for Willie Green, and I’m sincerely appreciative of his contributions to the Pelicans organization and the New Orleans community. We wish him and his family all the best in the future.”

Benson also confirmed that Dumars decided to relieve Green of his duties.

“As I have stated, Joe Dumars is in charge of basketball operations decisions, and as one of the best basketball minds in the business, I trust him to make the right decisions for our franchise,” she said. “I have tremendous admiration and respect for Willie Green, and I truly appreciate all he has done for our organization over the last few years. This is a tough business and these are difficult decisions. My expectation is to be a winning team that competes for championships, and I remain steadfast in our commitment to building a championship-caliber organization for our players, partners, and above all, our fans.”

Green was named head coach before the 2021-22 season and the team’s record steadily improved during his first three seasons. The Pelicans posted 36 wins in their first year, 42 the next and 49 in 2023-24. They made the playoffs in two of those seasons, falling in the first round both times.

Everything fell apart last season with injuries to multiple rotation players, greasing the skids for a 21-61 season. Dumars was hired afterward and chose to stick with Green in the short term, but their disastrous start led to his dismissal.

Pivoting to Borrego is also not a surprise.

Earlier this month, Marc Stein reported that Borrego was retained as New Orleans’ lead assistant in anticipation of a potential head coaching change. Stein noted that the Pelicans denied a request from the Knicks to interview Borrego to become the lead assistant on Mike Brown‘s staff.

Borrego, of course, has plenty of head coaching experience. He was Orlando’s interim coach in 2014-15, then had a four-year stint as Charlotte’s head coach from 2018-22. He has compiled a 148-183 record during his head coaching career.