The New Orleans Pelicans have lined up a broadcast team that blends continuity with a couple of fresh additions for the season ahead.
Joel Meyers and Antonio Daniels are back as the TV voices of the team, extending a partnership that is now in its seventh season together. Meyers is entering his fourteenth season overall, while Daniels is set for Year 7.
Andrew Lopez, a New Orleans native, returns for his third season as the sideline reporter on the television side.
Two new names are joining the mix. Kelly Crull, an Emmy Award-winning reporter, will handle the pregame, halftime and postgame shows. Her background includes national work with NBA on TNT, NBATV, Major League Baseball on TBS and football on ESPN, along with reporting stops with the Oklahoma City Thunder, San Diego Padres, Chicago Cubs, Atlanta Braves and Atlanta Hawks.
Kalia Butler is also coming aboard, serving as a team reporter for the television broadcast and the club’s digital platforms. Butler most recently worked this season as the sideline reporter for the WNBA’s Chicago Sky and also hosts Locked on Women’s Basketball.
On the distribution side, Gulf Coast Sports & Entertainment Network will televise 80 of the Pelicans’ 82 games. The two exceptions are the team’s January games in Europe against the San Antonio Spurs, which will stream on Amazon Prime. Every locally televised game will also be available through Pelicans +.
There will also be 20 regular-season games simulcast locally on FOX 8, giving the Pelicans another over-the-air option in the market. Fans outside the regional footprint can watch through NBA League Pass.
“We are committed to delivering a high-quality broadcast experience that brings Pelicans basketball to as many fans as possible across the Gulf Coast,” Pelicans’ president Dennis Lauscha said in a press release. “Our partnership with Gray Media and FOX 8, complemented by streaming access through Pelicans+, allows us to pair first-class Pelicans’ coverage with broad accessibility throughout our region, giving fans more flexibility in how they watch. Building on last season’s significant viewership growth, we look forward to expanding our reach and giving more fans the opportunity to watch, follow and connect with the team.”
FOX 8’s slate starts with the Oct. 21 season opener at home against the Indiana Pacers. Other games on that package include the Dec. 31 matchup with the Los Angeles Lakers, the Jan. 28 game against LeBron James and the Philadelphia 76ers, and the March 23 meeting with the New York Knicks, last season’s NBA champions.
Radio coverage stays put as well. WWL Radio (870 AM/105.3 FM) will again carry the Pelicans, marking the third straight season in that role. Todd Graffagnini is back for his eighth season as the radio play-by-play voice, John DeShazier returns for his fifteenth season as color analyst, and Gus Kattengell will host the pregame, halftime and postgame shows for the third season.
The radio side will air all 82 regular-season games plus the four preseason games, beginning with Tuesday’s preseason opener on the road against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
In Other News...
Dejounte Murray Draws A Line Pelicans Fans Will Recognize
Dejounte Murray recently put a familiar line in the sand for players and the people who cover them: critique the basketball, not the person. In talking about the difference between professional criticism and personal attacks, Murray stressed that journalists have a real role to play, but that role should stay centered on performance, accountability and what happens on the floor.
He even pointed to a chance meeting with a Pelicans reporter at Starbucks as the kind of face-to-face conversation that can clear the air when a relationship gets tense. Murrays point was straightforward enough for any fan who has watched a season get debated in real time: players can live with honest evaluation, but they do not want their character dragged into the conversation when the issue is really about how they play. [Read more 🡒]
Pelicans Suddenly Have A Rotation Debate Fans Wont Ignore
The Pelicans kept rolling in the preseason with a 101-97 win over the Mavericks, and the most interesting part may have been the lineup experiment. Head coach Jamahl Mosley mixed in a different starting group, giving Jeremiah Fears a prominent role in the kind of game that usually starts to shape roster debates before the regular season arrives.
Fears responded with a composed, all-around showing that only sharpened the conversation about where he fits. Jordan Poole also made his case by bringing noticeable defensive energy in limited minutes, the sort of detail coaches and fans tend to notice when they are trying to sort out who should be on the floor when the games start counting. [Read more 🡒]
Pelicans Suddenly Need More From Bennedict Mathurin Than Just Scoring
Bennedict Mathurin arrived with the expectation that his scoring would matter, but the Pelicans have been hinting since the start that his fit around Zion Williamson would require more than shot-making. He has talked about understanding the bigger picture, stressing team success and staying healthy over chasing individual numbers, and that mindset suddenly matters even more for a roster trying to keep its backcourt organized.
Dejounte Murrays absence with a toe contusion changes the margin for error and could push Mathurin into a far different role than the one many first imagined for him. If the Pelicans are going to stay steady without Murray, they may need Mathurin to help handle the ball, make quicker reads as a facilitator and take on tougher work on the perimeter, a shift that could speed up the adjustment they always hoped would happen around Williamson. [Read more 🡒]