Bleacher Report’s latest ranking of the 99 best shooters in NBA history turned up a familiar theme for the New Orleans Pelicans: the franchise has had more than a few reliable marksmen pass through, even if the current team has been uneven from deep overall.
The list included four former Pelicans or Hornets players, plus current president of basketball operations Joe Dumars at No. 83. Dumars wasn’t a high-volume shooter, but Bleacher Report credited him as a standout in an era when making shots from the perimeter was far less common.
Trey Murphy, meanwhile, was not on the list. But the piece made clear he could eventually force his way into that conversation if his career keeps trending the way it has.
The highest-ranked former Pelican was JJ Redick at No. 15. Redick spent a year and a half in New Orleans near the end of his career, and his first season there stood out in a big way: he hit 45.3% of his threes on 6.6 attempts per game.
Buddy Hield came in at No. 39.
His time in New Orleans was brief - just 57 games - but the early signs were strong before he was traded. The article noted the possibility of a big what-if if he had stayed longer, though it also pointed out that the Pelicans had a reason for making the move for DeMarcus Cousins.
CJ McCollum landed at No. 46.
He’s already one of the best shooters in franchise history, sitting second all-time with 692 made threes, and Bleacher Report highlighted how much damage he’s done in just three and a half seasons with the team. During his Pelicans run, McCollum shot 39.8% from three on 7.8 attempts per game, his best shooting stop.
Steve Smith rounded out the group at No. 69.
He arrived in New Orleans late in his career and spent one of the rare seasons in which he mostly came off the bench. Even in that role, he stayed efficient, knocking down 40.2% of his threes on 1.5 attempts per game in his lone season with the Hornets.
For his career, he shot 35.8% from deep on 3.4 attempts per game.
In Other News...
Pelicans Enter Camp With One Roster Tension Still Hanging Over Them
Training camp is close enough now that the Pelicans roster picture is starting to take shape, and the latest move only sharpened the edges of it. New Orleans sits at 17 confirmed players after adding Kobe Bufkin on a training camp contract, with one standard roster opening and one two-way slot still on the board as the team sorts through how it wants the group to look when camp opens.
The balance on the roster is already clear enough, with six guards, five wings and six bigs in the mix, but there are still a few places where the front office could choose to keep working. New Orleans has been weighing trades and additions to shore up certain positions, and the lingering question is whether the final moves come on the wing, in the frontcourt or somewhere else entirely before camp competition really begins. [Read more 🡒]
Pelicans Just Gave A Summer League Standout A Real Chance
Kobe Bufkins summer with New Orleans has turned into something more than a tryout. After joining the Pelicans for Las Vegas Summer League, the free agent guard has now earned a chance to stick around in camp, giving the team a closer look at a player who has already bounced through a few NBA stops since Atlanta drafted him in 2023.
For the Pelicans, the appeal is obvious: Bufkin brings a fresh guard option into a roster picture that still has openings to sort out, including a two-way spot. He has NBA experience with the Lakers and has also spent time with Brooklyn and South Bay, so this is not a pure flyer on an unknown name. It is a chance for New Orleans to see whether a strong summer can carry over when the real competition starts. [Read more 🡒]
One Pelicans Trio Worked While Another Exposed The Same Old Problem
One useful snapshot from last seasons Pelicans numbers came from a trio that actually fit together: Saddiq Bey, Herb Jones and Zion Williamson posted the teams best three-man net rating, a sign that New Orleans can still find workable combinations around its best pieces when the spacing and defensive activity line up. For a roster that is expected to look largely the same next season, that matters, because the margin for error will again come down to which groups can survive long enough to matter.
The bigger question is whether the new coaching staff can sort through the same puzzle more quickly than the last one did. New Orleans has enough talent to believe the right blends are in there, but the challenge is figuring out which lineups can lift Williamson instead of crowding him, and which ones create the kind of problems the Pelicans spent too much of last season trying to solve. [Read more 🡒]