New Orleans Pelicans Veteran Likes What He Has Seen With Roster

A New Orleans Pelicans veteran has liked what he has seen from his talented teammates.

Apr 7, 2019; Sacramento, CA, USA; New Orleans Pelicans guard Elfrid Payton (4) handles the ball while being defended by Sacramento Kings guard Yogi Ferrell (3) during the fourth quarter at Golden 1 Center. / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

The New Orleans Pelicans added a familiar face to their roster a few weeks ago when they signed veteran point guard Elfrid Payton to a training camp deal.

The No. 10 overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft by the Orlando Magic, the NBA veteran is back for his second stint with the Pelicans. He spent the 2018-19 season with the franchise, starting all 42 games that he appeared in.

At that time, the team was trying to deal with the Anthony Davis midseason trade request, which created a lot of turmoil. At the time, Payton wasn’t even in the prime of his career yet as a 24-year-old.

Now, he returns to his hometown team as an experienced 30-year-old after two seasons of not appearing in an NBA game. The last time he got on the court was May 15th, 2022 when he was on the Phoenix Suns and played five minutes in their Game 7 blowout in the second round of the Western Conference playoffs at the hands of the Dallas Mavericks.

In the first round of that postseason, the Suns matched up against New Orleans. A few of the team’s key pieces on that team remain on the roster now.

After playing against them a few years ago and playing alongside of them now, Payton believes there is a lot of potential with this group.

“Obviously, they are moving forward,” Payton said, via Christian Clark of NOLA.com. “They have a lot of good pieces here. I think they will be a threat in the West, for sure.”

CJ McCollum and Brandon Ingram were the Pelicans’ leading scorers that series, averaging 22.2 and 27 points per game, respectively. Herbert Jones averaged 10.7 as a rookie in his first postseason appearance and Jose Alvarado averaged eight per game.

Trey Murphy was also part of the rotation, averaging 20 minutes per game. Zion Williamson was on the team, but was injured and not participating in the playoffs.

Along with those talented players, New Orleans also added point guard Dejounte Murray in a trade with the Atlanta Hawks this offseason. That is three All-Stars and counting for a roster on the rise.

“These guys are really talented,” Payton said. “It’s a lot of talent out there. Zion, everyone knows what he does. B.I. is really good. CJ (McCollum) can score from everywhere. Other guys — even (Jordan Hawkins). Trey (Murphy), too. A lot of guys who can make an impact on winning.”

This is a deep, talented team where depth is going to be one of their strengths in the 2024-25 season. Head coach Willie Green will have some difficult decisions to make with playing time when everyone is healthy, but as long as the team is winning games, everyone should be happy.