Saddiq Bey doesn’t carry himself like a player trying to steal the spotlight. He doesn’t jaw with opponents, and he barely says much to his own teammates. That’s part of the package with the New Orleans Pelicans wing, a no-frills presence who shows up to the arena with a briefcase and goes to work.
Still, quiet players can make loud statements.
Bey did exactly that Wednesday night in the Pelicans’ 120-113 overtime win over the Utah Jazz, finishing with 22 points and delivering a string of clutch baskets in the extra period. After one of those shots, he pounded his chest and shouted toward the crowd, a rare burst of emotion from someone who usually keeps everything contained.
“Excited,” Bey said. “Just trying to win the game.
The fans have been with us through thick and thin every game. Was just trying to show them appreciation and trying to get the team and the flow going.
Just trying to end a tough, long game.”
That performance only added to the case that Bey belongs in the Sixth Man of the Year conversation. Vegas has him with the 16th-best odds, but the production says he’s much higher on the list of impactful reserves. He’s averaging 16.4 points and four rebounds, and among the 15 players with better odds, only San Antonio Spurs guard Dylan Harper is scoring more at 18.7 points per game.
It’s the second-highest scoring average of Bey’s career, just behind the 17.7 points per game he posted last season in his first year in New Orleans. Even though he could start for plenty of teams, he has settled into a role that fits him and helps the Pelicans. New Orleans is 4-5, and its bench has been one of the league’s strongest groups, including a four-game winning streak before Friday night’s loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
“He is the ultimate professional,” Pelicans coach Jamahl Mosley said. “He comes in and does his work.
Doesn’t say much. Gets his job done.
He is the ultimate competitor.
"You can’t ask for a better model of how you should approach the game than Saddiq Bey.”
Bey’s steadiness has been a theme throughout his second season with the Pelicans. He missed all of the 2024-25 season while recovering from a torn ACL suffered the year before with the Atlanta Hawks, after being with the Washington Wizards. He has leaned on his faith through that stretch, and he continues to mention God with the kind of regularity that matches his game: steady, grounded, and deliberate.
Asked whether he sees himself as one of the league’s best sixth men, Bey kept the focus on the bigger picture.
“I’m confident in myself,” Bey said. “God has instilled a lot in me.
Taught me a lot. Gave me a lot of wisdom of the things to use.
I just feel like whenever my opportunity comes, I just try to be the best version of myself every day and hope that leads to wins.”
That mindset fits a player in his seventh NBA season who has appeared in only one playoff series and wants another shot at the postseason. He understands the game is bigger than any one role, and he’s comfortable letting others carry the load when they have it going.
“I’ve been in it long enough to know when to pick my spots,” Bey said. “If other people have got it going, let them go. I try to insert my dominance when needed.”
Bey is second on the team in scoring behind Zion Williamson, and he brings more than offense. He gives the Pelicans physicality and the ability to defend multiple positions, which makes him valuable even when he isn’t in the starting lineup.
His routine says plenty about how he approaches the job. Before pregame introductions, while teammates are getting themselves fired up, Bey is usually under the basket by himself doing push-ups and then briefly meditating.
That’s the kind of detail that fits a player who once brought a lunch pail to games and now arrives with a briefcase. The item in his hand may have changed, but once the game starts, the work stays the same.
In Other News...
Pelicans Fans Will Want To Hear Mosleys Zion Plan
As the Pelicans continue sorting through their next chapter, Jamahl Mosleys name carries extra weight in New Orleans because of what he represents on the sideline and what he has already been asked to manage elsewhere. The former Magic coach has been part of the broader conversation around the franchises direction, and his perspective on Zion Williamson naturally draws attention from a fan base that has heard plenty of promise and plenty of frustration over the years.
Mosleys connection to the Pelicans is about more than just familiarity. He has been linked to a team trying to steady itself and rediscover a winning rhythm, and any discussion of Zion comes with the same familiar questions about health, consistency and how best to maximize a talent this rare. The details of Mosleys approach only sharpen the intrigue, because for New Orleans, the right plan around Zion is never just a talking point - it is the whole season. [Read more 🡒]