Previewing the New Orleans Pelicans for the 2026-27 Season
The Pelicans are a team heading into the year that really just does not seem to have a whole lot of excitement surrounding them. They barely made any moves this offseason, maintaining basically the exact same roster after going 26-56 last season. Not having their first-round draft pick also made last year feel even more dreadful, and not making many moves this offseason only added fuel to that fire.
A new voice in the locker room with Head Coach Jamahl Mosley could help. He has proven that he can be an excellent floor raiser, but will he be able to do that in Year 1 with New Orleans? Let’s dive into it.
The Roster
Point Guards — Dejounte Murray, Jeremiah Fears, Kobe Bufkin (Two-Way Contract)
Shooting Guards — Trey Murphy III, Bennedict Mathurin, Jordan Poole, Jaron Pierre Jr. (Two-Way Contract)
Small Forwards — Saddiq Bey, Herbert Jones, Bryce McGowens
Power Forwards — Zion Williamson, Derik Queen, Karlo Matković, Malik Dia (Two-Way Contract)
Centers — Yves Missi, DeAndre Jordan, Christian Koloko
Like I stated, the roster is basically the exact same. The biggest move came recently when they brought in Bennedict Mathurin.
Mathurin has had an up-and-down career so far. He showed some elite scoring flashes in the 2025 NBA Finals with the Indiana Pacers, but this past season was pretty rough for him. He struggled with efficiency, and an in-season move to the Clippers did not really help.
If he can click with this group and system, though, he could be a very solid addition. It will be interesting to see how that plays out. The roster overall is pretty balanced and definitely has some solid depth and talent if it can stay healthy, which has been a major issue in recent years.
Biggest Questions
The biggest question surrounding the Pelicans for about the last five seasons has been the health of Zion Williamson.
The former generational No. 1 overall pick has definitely shown that he is a great player, but he simply has not been able to stay healthy consistently. If he is healthy for most of the year, the Pelicans should be able to win significantly more games. If he cannot stay on the court, they probably will not win as much as this roster is capable of.
It has been reported that he has lost weight and is in excellent shape entering training camp, so hopefully that stays consistent. We all know how dangerous Zion can be when he is healthy.
I also think two players on this roster have extremely high ceilings but pretty low floors. Those two players are the shooting guards behind Trey Murphy III: Bennedict Mathurin and Jordan Poole.
Both players have a ton of offensive upside and have shown that throughout their careers. Jordan Poole is coming off a very poor season, and I would imagine he enters this year with a chip on his shoulder.
The upside for these two guys is extremely high. Jamahl Mosley was known in Orlando for having teams that played great defense, while the offense was usually the bigger issue. Now he has two players who can be lethal offensively. If he can get them to buy in defensively as well, both could become really impactful players for this team.
It is hard to imagine both of them having major breakout seasons because they will likely be splitting a lot of minutes, but maybe at least one of them can have a huge year and become a major piece for New Orleans.
Another major question surrounding this team is the development of the two sophomore players, Derik Queen and Jeremiah Fears.
Joe Dumars was very high on both players from the day they were drafted, and there has been positive talk surrounding their development this offseason. These are two players who could very well become faces of the franchise in the coming years if they continue to develop.
Jamahl Mosley also did a good job developing young talent during his time in Orlando, so the sky is the limit for these two. I really think they will both have great seasons and put some people on notice as two young rising players.
Prediction Markets
Some of the current future betting lines for the Pelicans are as follows:
Regular-season win total: 28.5
To win the NBA Finals: +40000 (24th-best odds)
To win the Western Conference: +20000 (13th-best odds)
To reach the Conference Finals: +8000 (12th-best odds)
To reach the Conference Semifinals: +3000 (12th-best odds)
To win the division: +20000 (4th-best odds)
To make the playoffs: +700
To miss the playoffs: -1100
To participate in the Play-In: +380
To win the NBA Cup: +50000 (26th-best odds)
These odds are definitely toward the bottom of the NBA. They are predicting the Pelicans to finish around the 12-13 seed in the Western Conference, which would be pretty similar to where they finished last season.
This is still a talented roster, and just three seasons ago this team nearly won 50 games. It has been nothing close to that since, though, and not making any major changes this offseason makes it understandable why the prediction markets are so low on them.
Final Prediction and Outlook
I am very high on the Pelicans this season.
Zion Williamson has dealt with health issues throughout his career so far, but he is in great shape and healthy as of now, which is huge. We have already seen how dominant of a player he can be when he is healthy.
Over the last two seasons, especially last year, this team has also just gotten unlucky with injuries. The roster is in good health entering the season and has plenty of talent to win games.
I believe Derik Queen and Jeremiah Fears will both take another step forward. I also think Jamahl Mosley raises the floor of this team in Year 1, and the Pelicans end up shocking a lot of people.
Final Prediction
40-42 — 9 Seed — Play-In Tournament Second-Game Loss
Comments