Everyone mocked the New Orleans Pelicans when they traded their unprotected 2026 first-round pick to the Atlanta Hawks on draft night. This resulted in the Pelicans moving up 10 spots and selecting Derik Queen. Even if Queen becomes a star, the process with this move was never defensible for a Pelicans squad that won just 21 games the year before.
Nevertheless, there was some reason for optimism heading into the season as Zion Williamson entered the year in the best shape of his career. Moreover, Herb Jones and Trey Murphy III returned to the season at full health. Unfortunately, though, things have gone as poorly as possible for the Pelicans, who are one of two winless teams at 0-6.
The Pelicans have a minus-17.4 net rating, which ranks dead last in the NBA. Cleaning the Glass has a stat called expected wins, which translates the team's efficiency differential to wins over the course of an 82-game season. Based on this stat, the Pelicans are on pace to win eight games, which would set an NBA record for the fewest wins in an NBA season.
The Pelicans' problems start at the top
At this point, it seems like a matter of days until head coach Willie Green is fired. Green has been the coach since 2021 and has led them to two playoff appearances, both as an eight seed. The Pelicans' offensive sets have been lackluster, and they have looked lost on defense. Some of that is due to an underwhelming personnel, but some of this is on Green.
Here's a clip of the Pelicans failing to get set in a simple zone.
Well, the Pelicans did try to hit the zone button. Problem is they just never got matched up. As soon as you see two teammates next to each other you know it's tilted. Middle open, Wiggins open for 3. pic.twitter.com/eUOJcCDBvF
— Steve Jones (@stevejones20) November 2, 2025
The roster that Joe Dumars and Troy Weaver constructed ignores defense and depth. That's fine for a pure rebuilding team, but not one that has playoff hopes since they gave up their first-round pick. Another problem is that Dumars is acting like he didn't trade a first-round pick before the season, that he won't set expectations for the team this year.
Despite trading the Pelicans’ unprotected pick, Joe Dumars says he won’t set playoff expectations
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) September 23, 2025
"No. I've not put that expectation on anyone...it wasn't like, 'okay, we made this trade, I expect to make the playoffs.' That's shortsighted to me."
pic.twitter.com/v5Zh8v2Efr
You really can't make this stuff up. Hiring Dumars as the president of basketball operations, after he hadn't held that position in 11 years and flamed out with the Detroit Pistons, was always inexplicable. Hiring Weaver as the general manager after most recently constructing a 14-win Pistons team was further baffling. These moves are already backfiring in the worst possible way.
It's also worth noting that the Pelicans traded the Indiana Pacers' 2026 first-round pick back to Indiana in exchange for the No. 23 pick, which they used to trade up for Queen. The Pacers (1-5) are looking like a lottery team.
This move came just days before the Tyrese Haliburton injury and is more understandable given that the Pacers were looking like an elite team. Nevertheless, this trade further adds salt to the Pelicans' wound, and their other moves are flat unacceptable.
The Pelicans have little chance of righting the ship
Another aspect of the Pelicans' season is that they've gotten solid production out of Zion despite the 0-6 start. He is averaging 22.8 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 4.6 assists. However, Zion's career path shows that he'll likely miss a portion of this season. If the Pelicans are already awful with Zion, imagine them without him.
One bright spot has been No. 7 pick, Jeremiah Fears, who has shown tons of promise as a scorer, averaging 13.1 points. Outside of Fears (and Zion perhaps), the bright spots have been few and far between.
Queen has shown some signs of promise but has seen a dwindling role, culminating in him not playing outside of "garbage time" against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Not ideal at all, considering what they gave up to get him. Jordan Poole, Murphy, Jones, and second-year big man Yves Missi have all struggled to various degrees as well.
I'm not sure what it would take for the Pelicans to turn it around, a real why. Yes, they likely won't be an eight-win team as the metrics suggest, but they clearly look like a bottom-five team in the league. In a draft class with three No. 1 worthy picks, that's a painful reality. Ultimately, there's no team in a worse position than the Pelicans this season, and changes are needed.