New Orleans Pelicans Star Dealing With Right Hamstring Strain, Sidelined For 3 Weeks

The New Orleans Pelicans received bad news on Thursday as they will be without a key member of their roster to begin the 2024-25 regular season.

Matt Bush-Imagn Images

The New Orleans Pelicans are in for a promising 2024-25 season with the roster that they have constructed.

The team was gearing up to run a small-ball lineup, with a starting five potentially including Dejounte Murray, Herbert Jones, Brandon Ingram, Zion Williamson, and Trey Murphy III.

The Pelicans received bad news about one of their potential starters on Thursday, however, throwing a wrench in what could have been their plans to begin the season.

In yesterday's practice, forward Murphy suffered an injury that ended his day early.

An MRI taken today confirmed the injury to be a right hamstring strain.

The forward will be re-examined in three weeks, and New Orleans will have a better idea of how to advance with Murphy at that time.

Not having Murphy for three weeks means that the team will be without the forward for at least their first game of the regular season, coming against the Chicago Bulls on October 23rd at the Smoothie King Center.

Murphy dealt with injuries last season, limiting the forward to only 57 games, and the Pelicans are hopeful that he will be available for more of the coming year.

The young forward averaged 14.8 points per game last season, with 2.2 assists and 4.9 rebounds while mostly coming off the bench and playing 29.6 minutes per contest.

It was looking like the forward would see an increase in workload for the coming year, with New Orleans not entirely certain on who their true starting center will be if they deploy one at all.

This is an early blow to the Pelicans roster that the team is hopeful to overcome in quick fashion.