New Orleans Pelicans: 3 takeaways from 2019 NBA Summer League

The New Orleans Pelicans had quite the exciting and successful Summer League this year and finished one game shy of the championship. Here are a few takeaways from their games in Las Vegas.

As we all know, the New Orleans Pelicans have had just about the craziest offseason as anyone. Practically the whole team is new and they have a couple of 2019 draft picks joining the squad as well.

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One of those rookies is Duke superstar Zion Williamson. Due to the long awaited arrival of Zion to the NBA, the Pelicans were easily one of the most anticipated teams to start their Summer League schedule.

Unfortunately for all of us, the No. 1 overall draft pick played only a total of nine minutes during the Summer League, as he took a knee-to-knee hit during his debut that led to the Pels to just sit the 19-year-old the rest of the way.

However, for the short period that he was out there on the court, he was still able to provide some excitement. Williamson had a few rim-rattling dunks and also this play where he just straight up bullies Kevin Knox:

Even though Zion didn’t play much at all in the Summer League, it did not stop the Pels from having a very successful time in Vegas. They ended with a record of 4-2 and ended up losing in overtime in the Summer League semifinals to the eventual champions, the Memphis Grizzlies.

Now that we have a larger sample size of these young players for the Pels, let’s look at three key takeaways from the Summer League for New Orleans.