The Pelicans didn’t make a loud summer splash, but their latest roster move may have quietly slammed the door on any real Jordan Poole resurgence in New Orleans.
After a 2025-26 season that went sideways, Poole was already heading into 2026-27 with plenty to prove. He averaged 13.4 points and 3.1 assists per game while shooting 37.2 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from three, numbers that left him looking like a strong bounce-back candidate. For a while, it seemed like he had a clean runway to do exactly that.
Then Bennedict Mathurin arrived.
Mathurin signed a two-year deal with the Pelicans, and while New Orleans largely kept things intact this summer, that one addition changes the math for Poole in a big way. What looked like a path to more responsibility now looks crowded, and not in a good way. Mathurin is expected to handle the scoring sixth-man role, which pushes Poole further down the pecking order.
Even before Mathurin got there, Poole’s opportunities already looked limited. Saddiq Bey, Jeremiah Fears and Derik Queen were all in the mix for touches, and that alone made a heavy usage role for Poole feel unlikely. With Mathurin added to the group, the idea starts to feel almost unrealistic.
There is still a world where Poole sees the floor alongside one of the younger guards or scorers, but that fit isn’t exactly seamless. When Mathurin or Fears sits, Dejounte Murray will likely be on the court, and pairing Poole with Murray could end up being redundant.
The other problem is that Poole’s game doesn’t give Jamahl Mosley many reasons to prioritize him. He has never been a strong defender, and there’s nothing in his career profile that suggests Mosley would suddenly lean on him for that side of the ball. Offensively, Poole wants the ball in his hands and wants to create, but New Orleans already has plenty of that coming off the bench.
Mosley’s rotation tendencies from his time with the Orlando Magic also point in a direction that doesn’t help Poole. He liked size, and that’s where Karlo Matkovic fits.
In a normal 10-man NBA bench setup, you’d want one lead ball handler, two wings and two bigs. For New Orleans, Mathurin and Bey fill the wing spots, Fears handles the ball, Derik Queen is one of the bigs, and Matkovic looks like the other.
Matkovic has the kind of profile that helps a bench hold together. He’s more efficient, he covers a need, and he also looks more likely than Poole to still be with the Pelicans down the line, especially with restricted free agency coming next summer.
That leaves Poole looking like the 11th man, stuck outside the real 10-man rotation. On some nights, Bryce McGowens could even get the nod instead because of his plug-and-play value.
New Orleans doesn’t need extra scoring nearly as much as it needs defense, rebounding and size. That’s the heart of the issue for Poole.
His best asset is his shot creation and scoring, but those are already covered. Unless injuries open the door, he doesn’t have a clear path to regular minutes at full strength next season.
In Other News...
Pelicans Still Have One Back-End Roster Spot Worth Watching
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With 21 players under contract and one two-way spot still open, the back end of the roster remains worth monitoring as camp approaches. Shumate is part of that conversation now, and his return suggests the Pelicans are still sorting through how they want to use their final opportunities before the roster picture gets set. [Read more 🡒]
Pelicans Year 2 Pressure Is Building For Jeremiah Fears And Derik Queen
Jeremiah Fears and Derik Queen are entering the kind of second season that tends to shape how a franchise talks about its young core for years. For the Pelicans, the comparison point is unavoidable because the bar in New Orleans has long been set by stars like Chris Paul and Anthony Davis, but the more useful question is not whether Fears or Queen can mirror that kind of trajectory right away. It is how much real, believable progress they can make while handling different roles and carrying different parts of the offense and defense.
The expectation around both players is less about chasing legend-level production and more about proving the growth is real by the end of the year. Fears and Queen do not need to become the next Paul or Davis to matter to this team, but the Pelicans do need to see cleaner decision-making, stronger command of their individual skills, and signs that each can keep building toward something bigger. The pressure is already there because that is how New Orleans measures young talent, and this season should say plenty about how steep the climb still is. [Read more 🡒]
Saints Showed Real Fight In Detroit But Left Fans Arguing More
The Saints left Detroit with a loss, but hardly without a pulse. Down 21 points, New Orleans clawed all the way back in a game that turned into the kind of wild, frustrating showcase that can both inspire and exasperate a fan base. Tyler Shough threw for 410 yards and three touchdowns, Chris Olave kept ripping open the Lions defense with 10 catches for 182 yards, and the offense did enough big things to make the finish sting even more.
But the ending is what will hang around, because New Orleans had its chance to flip the whole afternoon and couldnt quite cash it in. The Saints fell 31-30 in overtime after a failed two-point conversion, leaving the conversation split between admiration for the comeback and the familiar arguments that follow a loss this dramatic. For a team searching for traction, it was the kind of game that showed fight without delivering the reward that would have made it feel like a breakthrough. [Read more 🡒]