The New Orleans Pelicans are still a long way from being a sure thing. A 26-win season tends to leave a mark, and the questions hanging over this roster are still real: shooting, size, roster balance. But there is a path to something better in 2026-27, and it starts with a few traits this group actually has in its favor.
The first and most important one is health. New Orleans enters camp with its main rotation intact, and none of the key players are coming back from injury.
Zion Williamson, Trey Murphy, Herb Jones, Dejounte Murray, and the other major pieces finished last season available, and nothing has been reported this offseason. For a team learning new offensive and defensive systems under Jamahl Mosley, that kind of continuity matters.
Then there’s the athletic profile. Williamson and Murphy are elite athletes for their positions, and the Pelicans also have Bennedict Mathurin, Murray, Yves Missi, Jeremiah Fears, and Karlo Matkovic bringing speed, length, or explosiveness. They may not have the traditional size many teams want, but they do have the ingredients to turn defense into offense and push the pace in transition when stops and turnovers are there to be had.
That athleticism also feeds into a different kind of pressure. New Orleans got to the line 2,104 times last season, which worked out to 25.7 per game, and the team converted 78.4 percent of those chances.
Williamson, Mathurin, Fears, and Murray all have the strength or quickness to make defenders uncomfortable. And when the Pelicans aren’t likely to win a three-point shootout - opponents made 250 more threes than they did last season - that ability to generate paint touches and free throws gives them another route to scoring.
There is also some real upside still sitting in the young core. Fears played in all 82 games as a rookie and averaged 14.3 points.
Derik Queen posted 11.7 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 3.7 assists in 81 appearances. Missi blocked 1.5 shots per game, and Murphy led the team with 21.5 points a night.
New Orleans doesn’t need every young player to take a leap at once. If two or three of them make meaningful progress, the ceiling changes.
Mosley may end up being the biggest swing factor of all. He gives the Pelicans a chance to reset the tone and build a new identity, even if the roster’s lack of height and shooting makes that job complicated. Still, the group has enough athletes to try pressure, switching, and quicker lineups, and Mosley’s defensive background should help a team that has been among the NBA’s worst on that end over the last two seasons.
None of that guarantees a winning year. The health has to hold, the athleticism has to turn into stops, and the development has to become production. But New Orleans does have something to work with: a healthy core, downhill playmakers, promising youth, and a coach with a chance to make the whole thing fit better.
For a franchise that has spent two straight seasons disappointed, that may not be certainty. It is still a place to begin.
In Other News...
Dejounte Murray Could Change Everything For A Pelicans Team In Limbo
Dejounte Murrays time in New Orleans has been more stop-and-start than the Pelicans would have liked, with injuries limiting him to just 45 games over the past two seasons. Even so, the appeal has always been obvious: he brings playmaking, scoring, defense and rebounding to a roster that has spent too much time searching for stability. In a season where the franchise still feels caught in limbo, getting that version of Murray on the floor would change the look of both ends of the court.
The real question is what the Pelicans can finally build around if he stays healthy and settles in. Murray has shown enough in previous seasons to suggest he can help organize the offense, take pressure off other creators and give New Orleans a more disruptive presence defensively. For a team trying to move from potential to something more concrete, his availability may be the difference between another year of questions and a more defined direction. [Read more 🡒]