The New Orleans Pelicans may still be waiting on their first Hall of Famer, but that could change once a few familiar names finish their careers.
Chris Paul already looks like the obvious one. He retired last year, and once a player is fully done with the sport, he becomes eligible for the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
Paul fits the first-ballot mold without much debate. Over 21 seasons, he averaged 16.8 points, 9.2 assists and 2.0 steals per game, piled up 2,728 steals to rank second in NBA history, and finished inside the top 40 in scoring.
Even without a championship, his case is as strong as it gets.
But Paul may not be the only former Pelican headed that way.
Brad Botkin and Robby Kalland of CBS Sports recently examined active players around the league and identified two former New Orleans standouts with at least “probable” Hall of Fame odds: Anthony Davis and Jrue Holiday.
Davis landed in the “first-ballot locks” category, which lines up with a player who made the NBA 75 team. His time in New Orleans comes with plenty of baggage from the fan side, but there’s no disputing the talent. He won a title with the Los Angeles Lakers, has been a 10-time All-Star and earned five All-Defense nods.
Holiday came in a tier lower, but still in the conversation. CBS Sports placed him in the “probable” group, and his résumé is sturdy: two championships, six All-Defense selections and two All-Star appearances. He’s never been the kind of player who fills up the box score every night, but he has been consistently excellent for years, and that kind of long-term value matters when Hall voters start weighing careers.
There was one more former New Orleans name in the mix, too. CJ McCollum was listed as “outside looking in.” He’s built a strong case as a scorer and a player who has been very good for a long time, but according to the CBS Sports evaluation, he has not quite taken that extra step into true Hall territory.
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