Chris Price is an award-winning journalist and public relations principal. When he’s not writing, he’s avid about music, the outdoors, and Saints, Ole Miss and Chelsea football.
It wasn’t long ago that the Pelicans were questioned about being the “little brother” to their next-door neighbors the Saints in New Orleans’ sports landscape. But major changes within both franchises have hushed the talk of the Pels being second fiddle.
In recent seasons, the Saints have lost quarterback Drew Brees and head coach Sean Payton, major pillars of their success over the past two decades. Without them, the Saints have seemingly lost their edge and slipped into mediocrity in the NFL. That’s cracked the door for the Pelicans to emerge, and they’re responding by kicking the door wide open.
The team started the 2021-2022 season without superstar power forward Zion Williamson — who would miss the entire campaign due to injury and stumbled to a 1-12 start under then-first-year head coach Willie Green. Shooting guard Brandon Ingram emerged as the team’s leader and was bolstered by a mid-season trade for point guard C.J. McCollum. Together with rookie small forward Herbert Jones and center Jonas Valanciunas, the Pels battled to a 36-46 record, 10 games under .500, but good enough to finish ninth in the Western Conference and qualify for the NBA’s postseason play-in tournament. There, they eliminated the San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Clippers to advance to the postseason for the first time since 2018 before taking the top-seeded Phoenix Suns to six games in the first round of the playoffs.
With the Saints struggling start to the 2022 season, sports fans are turning their attention and excitement to the Pelicans. Despite Williamson — the top overall draft pick in 2019 — only playing in 85 of 226 games in his three seasons, in July, the Pelicans signed him to a five-year maximum rookie extension worth at least $193 million, with a chance for that number to jump as high as $231 million. He’s been working with athletic trainers to stay healthy and has a chef to ensure he is eating right. Finally healthy, the 22-year-old is ready to expand on his career average of 25.7 points on 60.4% shooting with 7 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game.
With Ingram, who averaged 22.7 points, 5.6 assists and 5.2 rebounds per game, and McCollum, who averaged 24.3 points and 5.8 assists, the team has a “big three” that can not only compete with but also best the core players of most other teams in the NBA. Add in the talent of Valanciunas; second-year players Jones, Jose Alvarado and Trey Murphy III, and the eighth overall pick from the 2022 NBA draft Dyson Daniels, and the Pels have positioned themselves as a team to be reckoned with right now and for seasons to come.
It’s quite a turnaround from the days when superstars like point guard Chris Paul and power forward Anthony Davis felt like they had to leave the Crescent City to compete with a playoff-caliber team.
Watching the Saints, New Orleans fans know that injuries can disrupt best-laid plans, but if the Pelicans can stay healthy, league prognosticators believe the team is entering its “golden era” and will be a force in the conference and post-season for seasons to come. With their amazing turnaround and post-season experience without their top player last season, this team knows it has a ton of potential with Williamson on the court again.
It may take some time for this young, talent-loaded team to come together, but by the midseason All-Star break, the Pelicans have the potential to be an offensive juggernaut and the talk of the league.
The NBA and its partners are taking note of the Pelicans’ potential, too. The team has 11 nationally televised games this regular season and will likely get more in the postseason.
New Orleans is and will, likely, always be a football-first city, but the Pelicans have taken flight. Instead of fans turning their attention to the team after the Saints’ season ends, the Pels have snatched attention from the tipoff of their season, and they hope to hold it through the upcoming festival season and into early summer.
Season-ticket sales are up more than 25% compared to this time last year, a Pelicans spokesperson told The Times-Picayune. All floor seats are sold out, and the team is on pace to sell more suites than it ever has before.
It has been more than a decade since the franchise made the playoffs in consecutive years. That will likely come to an end this season, and there will be a lot of fans who will want to be in that number when the Pels go marching in.
