New Orleans Pelicans: 2019-20 NBA season preview
By Phil Watson
After a turbulent offseason on the bayou, the new-look New Orleans Pelicans take their first steps into an uncertain future armed with, new young talent.
It’s out with the old and in with the new for the New Orleans Pelicans in 2019-20, with the franchise’s first No. 1 overall pick traded away and its second arriving just in the nick of time.
More from Hoops Habit
- 7 Players the Miami Heat might replace Herro with by the trade deadline
- Meet Cooper Flagg: The best American prospect since LeBron James
- Are the Miami Heat laying the groundwork for their next super team?
- Sophomore Jump: 5 second-year NBA players bound to breakout
- NBA Trades: The Lakers bolster their frontcourt in this deal with the Pacers
Anthony Davis is out after seven seasons in New Orleans, as he finally got his wish and was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers after the NBA moratorium ended in early July.
His replacement up front arrived on draft night following a surprising win for the Pelicans at the NBA Draft Lottery. With only the seventh-best odds of gaining the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA’s revamped lottery system, New Orleans beat those odds and ended up with the right to grab the undisputed No. 1 prospect in the 2019 NBA Draft in Duke superstar Zion Williamson.
The wheeling and dealing by new vice president of basketball operations David Griffin, the architect of the Cleveland Cavaliers‘ title-winning club in 2016, was not done. The Pelicans obtained the rights to two more first-round picks to get their rebuild off to a quick start.
Couple that with the bounty of young talent and draft assets acquired from the Lakers in the Davis deal and the future looks promising in New Orleans.
The kids will be joined by some solid incoming veterans and the team’s incumbent floor leader in Jrue Holiday.
The Davis era in the Big Easy was ultimately a disappointment, as his seven seasons produced just two playoff berths and one series victory.
Whether the Pelicans can compete for a playoff spot this season remains to be seen, as the Western Conference got much more tightly bunched at the top and remains deep with potential postseason applicants.
With most teams in the league going through major roster turnover this summer, the teams that come together the quickest will put themselves in position to claim those playoff spots, and the Pelicans have the raw talent — if not the experience — to perhaps make a run.
It’s a new era in NOLA and we dig into it here.