The New Orleans Pelicans are heading into a season with a choice they can’t keep dodging: chase the safest version of the present, or start building around Jeremiah Fears and Derik Queen.
That tension is baked into the roster right now. On one side is Zion Williamson, the elite talent who can lift a team when he’s available.
On the other is the rookie pair the franchise is clearly trying to develop into its next core. The problem, as the Pelicans have found, is that those two timelines are trying to run down the same road.
Joe Dumars and Troy Weaver inherited a mess that makes any clean reset tough. Williamson is good enough to matter, but not healthy enough to count on and not easy enough to move on from. That leaves New Orleans stuck in a familiar place: the upside is real, but so is the stop-start frustration that can freeze a franchise in place.
Fears and Queen both flashed last season, and both also looked every bit like rookies. Their best moments stood out because the Pelicans had so little else to hang onto, and their rough patches were just as visible.
Now they’re entering Year 2, and neither player is locked into a starting role. In fact, neither is expected to open the season in the first five.
Dejounte Murray could get the veteran nod at point guard, while Yves Missi appears to fit the rest of the group better.
That setup makes the team’s priorities pretty clear. New Orleans says it wants Fears and Queen to be major rotation pieces going forward, but keeping them out of the starting lineup would also send a message: the Pelicans don’t think their best chance to win right now includes those two on the floor from the jump.
That’s why the bigger goal has to be development, even if it costs them something in the standings. By the end of the season, both Fears and Queen need to look like starters.
Fears has already shown what happens when he’s given room to attack. He finished with 40, 36 and 36 in his last three games, a stretch that says plenty about his scoring ability no matter who was on the other side.
The flip side is just as clear: opposing teams hunted him defensively, and he still had plenty of work to do running an NBA offense. Even so, he made real in-season progress as a rookie, which is no small thing, and he’s been grinding this offseason.
If the Pelicans give him the runway, a big sophomore jump is there for the taking.
Murray is still viewed as the steadier option, and the numbers help explain why. Fears posted a minus-287 plus/minus, one of the worst marks in the league, with only six rookies below him. Queen was one of those rookies, finishing at minus-304.
Queen brings a different kind of appeal. He can be mesmerizing on offense, flashes quick hands defensively and has a basketball IQ that jumps off the screen.
There’s real belief he can grow into the centerpiece of a modern NBA offense. But, like Fears, he has a long climb ahead on defense.
He’s also been putting in the work this summer, with DeAndre Jordan helping him reshape his body.
The encouraging part for New Orleans is that both sophomores seem to be doing everything right. They’ve got the right mindset, they’ve put in the work, and they’ve earned a real chance to prove they belong. Now the Pelicans have to put them in position to succeed, even if that means moving away from the comfort of the old plan.
They’ll have an entire training camp and preseason to make their case. For now, the two open spots on the ends of the trio with Williamson, Trey Murphy and Herbert Jones are still there, even if they’re not currently trending toward Fears and Queen.
In Other News...
Pelicans Front Office Already Facing A Debate Fans Cant Ignore
The evaluation of the Pelicans front office has become part of the conversation around the franchise before the season really gets going. CBS Sports recently ranked New Orleans No. 29 in its front-office assessment, a harsh early read on a group led by Joe Dumars and Troy Weaver that has already spent plenty of time under scrutiny since taking over last year. For a team trying to navigate both a rebuild and the usual injury issues that have followed it, the pressure around decision-making has only grown.
Some of the criticism has centered on the kinds of moves that can define a new regime quickly, including the trade involving Derik Queen and the deal that sent CJ McCollum out for Jordan Poole and Saddiq Bey. With Dumars and Weaver still relatively early in their run, the larger question is whether these moves are the start of a smarter long-term plan or the kind of missteps that can shape how the league views New Orleans for a while. [Read more 🡒]
Pelicans Face A Brutal 2030 Warning About Where This Is Headed
The long view can be a cruel one in the NBA, and The Sporting News just put the Pelicans in a group no team wants to join. In a ranking of the leagues bottom three franchises by 2030, New Orleans landed alongside Golden State and Milwaukee, a reminder that the path from promising core to long-term stability is never as straight as it looks in the moment.
For the Pelicans, the warning sign is less about one bad season than about uncertainty around where the roster goes next. Golden State is staring at an eventual post-dynasty rebuild and Milwaukee is juggling the pressures that come after a title chase, but New Orleans is being viewed as a team without a clear direction, one that could be forced into major changes and lean heavily on draft luck to find its next lift. [Read more 🡒]
Pelicans Still Have One Roster Decision That Could Drag On
The Pelicans still have one two-way spot to sort out, and it has turned into a small but meaningful camp storyline. Kobe Bufkin and Christian Koloko are in the mix for that final opening, while the front office can also keep looking at other free-agent options as it tries to round out the roster with the right blend of upside and fit.
Bez Mbeng, Curtis Jones and Hayden Gray are among the shooting guards who could enter the conversation if New Orleans wants to keep its options open a little longer. With two two-way players already signed, the remaining decision is less about filling a seat and more about choosing which kind of development piece makes the most sense for a team still balancing present needs with future depth. [Read more 🡒]