New Orleans Pelicans Draw Stacked NBA In-Season Tournament Group

It's going to be a battle for the New Orleans Pelicans during the group stage of the In-Season Tournament.

Detailed view of the City Edition logo for the New Orleans Pelicans / Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports

One of the new things the NBA added to their schedule last year was the In-Season Tournament that saw the Los Angeles Lakers be crowned inaugural champions after eliminating the New Orleans Pelicans 133-89 in the semifinals and beating the Indiana Pacers in the championship.

The mission of this new competition was to create more competitive games during the regular season that would engage fans and allow the players to chase another championship opportunity.

Heading into 2024-25, this is here to stay and has promptly been renamed "The Emirates NBA Cup."

The Pelicans now know who they will be facing during their group stage if they want an opportunity to win this competition, and getting to the knockout round is not going be easy.

The groups are set for the Emirates NBA Cup 2024, as revealed tonight on ESPN.

All 30 NBA teams were randomly drawn into groups of five within their conference based on win-loss records from the 2023-24 regular season.

The groups are available below. pic.twitter.com/vCwzPPcnVk

— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) July 12, 2024

New Orleans has been placed in West Group C, which consists of the 2023-24 Western Conference champion Dallas Mavericks, the 2022-23 NBA champion Denver Nuggets, 2021-22 champion Golden State Warriors, and the Memphis Grizzlies who have tons of talent.

The Pelicans have been given the No. 3 seed among these teams.

How they were selected to such a competitive group is the result of every team around the league being placed into a pot based on their record from the prior regular season. In each conference, one team from each pot was randomly selected.

During the group stage that will take place on Tuesdays and Fridays from November 12 to December 3, every team plays four games total, facing each opponent in their group once. Two games will come at home and two will be on the road.

For New Orleans, they will be at home against the No. 1 seed Nuggets and No. 4 seed Warriors, while hitting the road to face the No. 2 seed Mavericks and No. 5 seed Grizzlies.

All things considered, that is about as favorable of a circumstance the Pelicans could have gotten, not having to face potentially the two best teams in their group on the road where those teams have sizable home court advantages.

But for them to advance to the knockout round, they'll need to win their group like they did last year when they went 3-1 so they can avoid having to earn their way in through the Wild Card which is only given to one second-place finisher in each conference.