New Orleans Pelicans Took Major Step Back in This One Area During NBA Offseason

The New Orleans Pelicans still have some work to do in this one area heading into the 2024-25 NBA regular season.

Mar 30, 2024; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Boston Celtics center Al Horford (42) is defended by New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson (1) and center Jonas Valanciunas (17) during the second half at Smoothie King Center. / Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports

The 2024 NBA offseason was an eventful one for the New Orleans Pelicans. After being bounced in the first round of the postseason again, they made a splash to get over the hump in a loaded Western Conference.

Their big move of the summer was acquiring point guard Dejounte Murray from the Atlanta Hawks.

Murray is a major upgrade for the Pelicans in several areas. They now have a floor general to rely on late in games to ensure they are getting into their sets to score on offense. Defensively, the rangy point guard has the length to defend multiple positions.

His addition to the lineup certainly makes New Orleans a better team. But, it wasn’t all positive for the team this summer.

The team suffered some losses, which were highlighted by Dan Favale of Bleacher Report. In the opinion of many people, Brandon Ingram’s future being up in the air is the team’s biggest loss.

Favale made mention of that, as it is impossible to ignore. A talented player, it is hard to see where Ingram fits with this current core. A quiet trade market complicates things as well.

Alas, an even larger issue looming over the Pelicans is their depth chart at the center position.

“New Orleans' center rotation is more disconcerting. It's not that they moved on from Nance and Jonas Valančiūnas, per se. It's that they did so without having a more bankable course mapped out. A center carousel of Daniel Theis, Yves Missi, Karlo Matković and, I guess, Zion-at-the-5 arrangements is shaky stuff,” Favale wrote.

Along with the players Favale mentioned, the team also claimed Trey Jemison off waivers from the Memphis Grizzlies. Overhauling an entire positional depth chart likely wasn’t the plan entering the offseason, but it is what ended up happening to New Orleans.

Zion Williamson at center minutes should be a change-of-pace tool used in specific matchups by Willie Green; not a regular staple in the team’s plans.

In an ideal world, things would be shored up in the middle in an Ingram trade. The Pelicans would look to bring back an established option that offers some insurance in case Theis doesn’t have much left in the tank or Missi isn’t ready for rotation minutes.

Alas, for a team with expectations as high as New Orleans has, this is something that needs to be addressed. Maybe Missi is more ready than we expect, but it would be extremely risky to enter the season with this group, especially with how difficult moving up in the Western Conference will be.