Jeremiah Fears didn’t just flirt with a triple-double Thursday night. He handed the Pelicans a much bigger question.
With Dejounte Murray unavailable after the birth of his child, Fears was pushed into a heavier playmaking load and delivered the kind of performance that can change how a team thinks about its backcourt. In New Orleans’ 132-120 win over the Sacramento Kings, the rookie finished with 22 points, a career-high 13 assists, eight rebounds, four blocks and two steals.
He needed only 29 minutes to do it.
Fears shot 9 of 16 from the floor, hit 3 of 5 from 3-point range and kept his mistakes in check with just three turnovers. For a Pelicans team still trying to settle on an offensive identity, that kind of control stood out as much as the box score production.
The win snapped a four-game losing streak and gave New Orleans its clearest look yet at what Fears can do when the offense runs through him. The Pelicans have had real backcourt questions early in the season, especially with Fears and Murray both needing the ball. Thursday, there was no ambiguity about who was steering the attack.
The results were loud. Fears’ 13 assists accounted for more than 40 percent of New Orleans’ total, and the Pelicans finished with 32 assists on 50 made baskets. They shot nearly 60 percent overall and piled up 80 points in the paint.
Zion Williamson was nearly automatic, going for 22 points on 10-of-12 shooting. Trey Murphy III added 19 points, and four other Pelicans also reached double figures. It was the kind of spread-out scoring New Orleans has had trouble producing with any regularity.
Sacramento helped open the door by turning it over 25 times, and the Kings had no clean answer for New Orleans in transition or at the rim. But Fears still had to make the right reads, and he did that while keeping his own scoring punch intact.
That balance showed up again late. The Pelicans took a 14-point lead into the fourth quarter, but the Kings started trimming the margin.
When Fears checked back in with 5:59 left, New Orleans was up 115-106. From there, he scored twice and assisted on another basket during an 8-0 burst that pushed the lead to 17.
That mattered for a team that has struggled to protect leads down the stretch.
New Orleans still lost the fourth quarter 32-30, and Sacramento shaved the margin to eight before the Pelicans closed it out. But Fears delivered in the stretch that most needed it.
His defense was part of the story, too. The four blocks and two steals gave the night a fuller shape and showed he was affecting the game beyond the scoring and passing lanes.
Herb Jones also made his presence felt, scoring 16 points and finishing a team-best plus-27 in his return to the starting lineup. The Pelicans’ bench added 41 points, while Sacramento’s reserves managed just eight.
Still, the focus kept coming back to Fears.
One strong night against a winless team does not settle New Orleans’ backcourt situation. Murray’s absence also altered the rotation, which makes direct comparisons tougher. But the performance did put a clear idea in front of the Pelicans: Fears may be more than a scoring guard squeezed into a crowded mix.
The bigger question now is how much better he gets when he’s trusted to organize the offense on a consistent basis. Thursday suggested the answer could matter a lot.
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The appeal for the Pelicans is obvious enough: a chance to move off a massive long-term commitment and open up some financial flexibility. But any conversation around Williamson quickly circles back to the same issue, and this one is no different, because the trade idea is built around a player whose availability has always shaped the discussion as much as his talent has. It remains purely speculative, but it is the sort of proposal that forces New Orleans to confront where the line is between patience and practicality. [Read more 🡒]