New Orleans Pelicans Have a Promisingly Deep Bench for Upcoming Season

The New Orleans Pelicans starting-five are all well known. Their bench? Not so much.

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The New Orleans Pelicans battled their way to a 49-33 record in the 2023-24 season, winning a spot in the NBA Playoffs through the Play-In Tournament before being swept in the first round by the Oklahoma City Thunder.

It was the most wins for the team since the 2008-09 campaign and their ninth postseason appearance in the franchise's 23-year existence.

The team was led by well-known stars in Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram, CJ McCollum, and Herb Jones, but the bench was not as stacked as the starting five.

This season, that looks to be changing.

The Pelicans made a blockbuster trade in the offseason, acquiring guard Dejounte Murray from the Atlanta Hawks, adding another star to the mix for the potential starting five, and giving the team six men capable of being on the court at the opening tip.

With six men vying over five spots, that leaves one man out, adding a starting caliber player to a bench that has improved through spectacular player development.

Jose Alvarado was a big piece off the bench for New Orleans last year and performed well enough to finish sixth in the Sixth Man of the Year Award voting.

The team extended Alvarado last month, making him a key piece of their bench for at least two more seasons.

The Pelicans drafted guard Jordan Hawkins with the 14th pick of the 2023 NBA Draft, and the young role player found his way into 67 games, playing 17.3 minutes and scoring 7.8 points per game off the bench.

In the first preseason game this year, Hawkins played 20:56 (the highest minutes on the team) with 18 points on 62.5 percent shooting and making six of seven attempts from the charity stripe.

Both Alvarado (two) and Hawkins (four) carried positive plus/minus ratings in the first preseason game, and look to be key contributors off the bench in the coming season.

Currently, forward Trey Murphy III is slated to miss at least the regular season opener with an injury, leaving only five players capable of starting.

Once Murphy returns, all signs point to McCollum finding his minutes off the bench and taking the role of sixth man from Alvarado.

McCollum coming off the bench will leave him with more scoring opportunities, while Alvarado can serve as the facilitator.

McCollum could easily win Sixth Man of the Year, and it lengthens the lineup even more, giving New Orleans some of the best depth in the Association this year.

The key to success is having your players win their minutes on the floor.

Having such a deep roster gives the Pelicans more than just a fair shake at their rotations winning their minutes on a nightly basis, and the promising bench depth is a major factor for that.