The Pelicans’ Disarray Has Reached a Breaking Point

Losing by 51 is never an easy pill for any NBA player to swallow. Missing Williamson and Murphy was not enough to justify a performance like that. At times, it appeared as if players were out of sync, or had already given up on the season.

After the game, Poole discussed what it was like playing against his former team. He divulged that he still had love for the Bay, and reminisced about his time as a Warrior. In the process, he seemingly took shots at his new team, exposing the biggest whiplash players have when going from a winning organization to one like the Pelicans.

“Coming from a team that had one common goal, knew we wanted to win, everybody’s on the same page, everybody came into camp trying to win a championship, ready to sacrifice — playing team ball, it’s kinda like the way I grew up,” Poole said, on the differences between playing with the Warriors versus the Pelicans. “It’s the way I played my entire career. So it’s definitely different, and there’s been an adjustment.”

Not every team is a title contender. But the Pelicans have been stuck for years in a perpetual loop of rebuilding while simultaneously attempting to compete.

The truth is, they have failed at both.

The Pelicans Have Been Stuck in a Rebuild Loop for Seven Years

New Orleans rejoiced when Anthony Davis fell in their lap as the No. 1 pick back in 2012. It appeared as though they had found their franchise cornerstone for the future. 

In the next six years, the Pelicans reached the playoffs just twice, going no further than the second round. The messy divorce between them and Davis began when he requested for a trade to a contender. The team had endured rebuilding stages and untimely injuries to key players — part of which the organization can be blamed for.

What came in the aftermath of dealing Davis was a haul of players who landed in The Big Easy, including Williamson and Brandon Ingram.

Perpetual injuries to Williamson, and to some degree Ingram, halted any chances they had at contending.

Former Pelicans have noted that from a marketing standpoint, it is more difficult to draw fans to games partially because the city has historically centered around the Saints football team. 

Playing in a football city, coupled with the fact that New Orleans is a smaller sports market, places greater emphasis on the team to win in order to sell tickets. And for much of the seven years since Davis’ departure, wins haven’t come easily. The team has won 40 games just twice in the last seven seasons, missing the playoffs five of those years.

The Pelicans can collect as many lottery picks as they want, but talent alone doesn’t guarantee wins. Team culture and communication are just as important. For 30-year-old Dejounte Murray, he got an up-close view of that lesson right away.

Dejounte Murray’s First Season in New Orleans Fell Apart On and Off the Court

Dejounte Murray was traded to the Crescent City in the 2024 offseason, with the front office looking to create a trio with Williamson and Ingram.

But a wrench was thrown in their plans just as the season got underway.

Murray’s mom had suffered a stroke days before opening night. He then fractured his hand in the first game of the season, causing him to miss 17 games. His mom made it out of the ICU into a rehab center, only for her health to regress and wind up back in the ICU. Throughout the process of Murray being there with his mom in Seattle and recovering from his hand fracture, the team fell to 4-14.  

During that already difficult period in his Pelicans tenure, his cousin was killed, and his uncle overdosed. 

Murray believed his mom’s stroke was the first domino to fall in what would be a tumultuous year, on and off the court. Although his return from injury in November was a bright spot at the time, the organization was faltering.

“From that moment, the organization — it just got bad, man,” he revealed on The Pivot Podcast. “Such and such got fired, another guy left, they brought new people in, and it was a situation where, seriously, I got all these problems going on.”

Murray Said the Quiet Part Out Loud

Murray believes the team’s spiral was exacerbated by a lack of clarity from the organization. 

“In the meantime of all of this, I’m not getting what I need in the organization,” he said. “It’s hard for me to get my training time; it’s hard for me to get lifts; it’s hard for me to get my own court time. So you can only imagine where my mental is at.” 

The dog days continued when Murray tore his Achilles at the end of that January. In the car ride leading up to that game, he had an ominous feeling something would happen.

“I told my agent, too: If something don’t shake, something’s going to happen. I don’t know what it is. The way that things are going and where my mental is at. It wasn’t just me. It was everybody’s mental. Every player.”

Murray said the quiet part aloud. 

“I hope the organization, you know, get it together. Cause you can have the talent, but it ain’t just the talent; you need every dot to connect to have a chance to go win.”

Ingram was eventually traded at the Feb. 2025 trade deadline.

The Pelicans have had three All-Star players come in since Davis was traded to the Lakers. But success isn’t built on stars alone. To say the team lacked stability that season would be an understatement.

The Pelicans underwent a massive overhaul of their organization throughout the year into the summer. They parted ways with their executive president, David Griffin; Swin Cash, vice president of basketball operations and player development, was dismissed; and GM Bryson Graham left New Orleans to take on a front office role in Atlanta.

On Nov. 15 of the following season, Willie Green was let go from his duties as coach.

Every Star Who Leaves New Orleans Wins Somewhere Else

The Pelicans — along with the Charlotte Hornets — are the only organizations to have never reached the conference finals. 

In The Athletic’s 2025 anonymous player poll, the Pelicans came in at third for worst organization. 

What tarnishes New Orleans isn’t just their lack of success or stability. Players who left the city went on to have success elsewhere in different systems.

Anthony Davis, Jrue Holiday, Jose Alvarado, and Josh Hart all won NBA titles after moving on to a different team. Holiday, Davis, and Alvarado won their championships in their first seasons since leaving the Pelicans. 

All except Davis could fall under the category of a prototypical role player in the league — meaning they aren’t their team’s go-to option. Still, other organizations’ ability to put them in positions to be successful underscores one of the Pelicans’ biggest flaws.

The Roster Still Doesn’t Have Enough Shooting Around Williamson

Freshly appointed executive vice president of basketball operations Joe Dumars ran back essentially the same roster. At 12 games through the 26-27 season, new coach Jamahl Mosley has yet to hit the stride the front office was hoping for.

This version of the squad features Williamson and Murray alongside second-year players Derik Queen and Jeremiah Fears.

Their talent should be enough to get off to better than a 4-8 start. But it is clear the roster construction around them leaves room for improvement. 

The Pelicans desperately need shooting to play off Williamson’s interior presence and space the floor. They are seventh in field goal percentage but 25th in three-point percentage and 26th in defensive rating.

At media day, Williamson admitted he is “not where I wanna be” in his NBA career. Whether he meant the physical city of New Orleans or the stage of his career is up for interpretation. 

Williamson Told the Whole Organization to Look in the Mirror

Williamson challenged the whole organization to search inwards two days after their Warriors game. Coming off their historic loss, they suffered a 31-point defeat Wednesday night at home to the 2-8 Brooklyn Nets.

“You have to go look yourself in the mirror when you’re by yourself and say, ‘Did I do everything that I needed to do for my team? Was I in the gaps on defense? Was I the low man when I was supposed to….Did I give it real effort?’ That’s what everybody has to do.”

The former No. 1 overall pick is now with his fifth head coach in eight seasons. Next season will be the final year of his and Murray’s contracts.

Just three players remain from their roster since their last postseason appearance in 2024. 

The Pelicans’ disarray will only continue unless the team decides to blow up the roster. But ultimately, none of it will matter if they don’t confront the issues that led them there in the first place. Talent hasn’t been their number one issue, but so long as they lack strong leadership, they will find themselves in these positions again.