New Orleans Pelicans Looking To Tread Water While Battling Several Key Injuries

The New Orleans Pelicans are going to do their best to not sink in the standings as they wait out the return of several injured players.

Oct 29, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; New Orleans Pelicans head coach Willie Green stands on the court during a timeout against the Golden State Warriors in the third quarter at the Chase Center. / Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images

We saw a glimpse of what the New Orleans Pelicans could be like in the minutes that Zion Williamson isn’t on the court in their season opener agianst the Chicago Bulls.

It was a very encouraging performance, as they picked up a 123-111 victory. It was an impressive showing as Williamson was on the sidelines along with Trey Murphy, who is recovering from a hamstring injury.

Dejounte Murray’s impact was felt right away. He didn’t shoot the ball well, scoring 14 points on 4-of-15 from the field, but he grabbed a team-high eight rebounds and handed out 10 assists.

Unfortunately, he found himself on the sidelines after that.

In the fourth quarter against the Bulls, the Pelicans new starting point guard fractured his hand. He underwent surgery for it and will be sidelined for multiple weeks.

Certainly not an ideal outcome, as other players are going to need to step up in his absence. The team has what it takes to overcome his loss for a few weeks, but we aren’t going to see this team at its full potential until December.

It could a bumpy road at times, as Kevin Pelton revealed in his blurb about the team over at ESPN’s weekly NBA power rankings. They moved up one spot to No. 15, but without Murray, it was a tough weekend.

“Despite struggling with his shooting (4-of-15), Dejounte Murray powered a Pelicans offense temporarily without Zion Williamson due to illness in their opening win, coming within two rebounds of a triple-double in his debut in New Orleans. Alas, that was the last time we'll see Murray on the court for a while, as a broken bone in his left hand required surgery and will sideline him 4-to-6 weeks. Without Murray and newly extended Trey Murphy III, sidelined by a hamstring strain, New Orleans was outscored by 20 points in a two-game split in Portland over the weekend,” the NBA expert wrote.

This will be a similar group Willie Green has to work with compared to the last few years. Some of the rotation pieces have been changed, but the core remains the same; CJ McCollum, Brandon Ingram, Williamson, Herbert Jones and Murphy.

That group helped lead New Orleans to 49 victories last season. It is a strong unit for Green to rely on until their point guard returns, but there is also a reason that the front office and ownership were compelled to acquire Murray in the first place.

For the time being, they are going to look to tread water, beating the teams they are expected to and being competitive with the others. Overcoming this many key injuries is not easy, as the Pelicans cannot afford to fall too far behind in a loaded Western Conference.