The One Reason the New Orleans Pelicans Won’t Win the Title in 2024–25 Season

There is one glaring issue that will be the biggest deterrent to the New Orleans Pelicans winning a title.

Sep 30, 2024; New Orleans, LA, USA; New Orleans Pelicans center Yves Missi (21) takes part in Pelicans Media Day. / Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images

When taking a look at the New Orleans Pelicans roster heading into the 2024-25 NBA season, there is a lot to like.

A lot of the issues that plagued their offense last season late in games will disappear with Dejounte Murray taking over as the starting point guard. He is a legitimate table-setter, someone who will make life easier for his teammates as the lead ball-handler and initiator on that side of the ball.

Defensively he makes them even more dangerous.

As head coach, the defense has been Willie Green’s calling card. Murray has shown capable of excelling on that end and should return closer to the production we saw earlier in his career with the San Antonio Spurs.

Overflowing with talent on the wing and in the backcourt, the Pelicans can overwhelm opponents on the perimeter. With Brandon Ingram, Trey Murphy, Herbert Jones, Jordan Hawkins and CJ McCollum as options, they are as deep as any team in the league.

However, there are a few issues the team has to iron out.

Figuring out the wing rotation when everyone is healthy will be difficult. Green cannot even see how different combinations work in training camp as Murphy will be sidelined for weeks by a hamstring ailment.

Alas, the biggest flaw currently on the roster is the center position. Veteran Daniel Theis, rookies Yves Missi and Karlo Matkovic, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl and two-way player Trey Jemison currently make up the depth chart.

In the opinion of Dan Favale of Bleacher Report, the ill-fitting roster and lack of a reliable option in the middle are what will hold New Orleans back the most from winning a title.

“Ingram's future is billowing in the wind, awkwardly and haphazardly, all the while. He is not only entering a contract year, but the Pelicans added another player ahead of him in the ball-handling pecking order (Dejounte Murray). That tickets him for a role he's even less qualified to play than the one he manned when New Orleans was at full strength last year.

Portraying this as lineup optionality is Grade A pretzel-twisting. The Pelicans don't so much have options as they are being shoehorned into playing lineups that are tantalizing as alternatives but may neither be sustainable nor effective enough as a primary identity,” the NBA expert wrote.

Expecting Zion Williamson to handle full-time minutes at the center spot is a disaster waiting to happen. He played in a career-high 70 regular season games last season, but asking him to take on such a taxing role would be incredibly risky.

Now likely third on the pecking order for touches, depending on the lineup combination that Green uses, Ingram is a poor fit for this roster. Playing off-ball, his unwillingness to shoot 3-pointers is a recipe for disaster.

The front office has to figure something out, and fast, as this team needs a few tweaks to truly reach its ceiling.