The New Orleans Pelicans announced their four 2026 NBA Cup games.
The New Orleans Pelicans have teased Thursday's full NBA schedule release, but fans can already make plans for a couple of games as the team announced their Emirates NBA Cup games early.
The NBA Cup has overall been a success for the league, as they try to find as much meaning as possible for regular-season games to keep fans engaged all year long. This has been a fun tournament for the league overall, but it hasn't been too kind to the Pelicans in its three years of existence.
New Orleans did win their group back in 2023, but fell in the semi-finals to the Los Angeles Lakers. They went 1-3 in 2024 and 0-4 last year. Not too shocking, given that the past two years have been very troublesome for the Pelicans.
It would be fun if they had a turnaround this year and were able to make it back to the playoffs and reinvigorate this fanbase a little bit after the past two seasons. The problem, though, is that they have been dealt a tough hand. Here are the teams that they are going to face in the group stage:
Nov. 6 - vs. Minnesota Timberwolves
The Timberwolves are going to be an interesting team to watch this year, because they traded for LaMelo Ball last season. How well it is going to end up working on the court is less obvious.
Nov. 13 - vs. Memphis Grizzlies
This is the game that is going to be the easiest for New Orleans, the Grizzlies are full-on rebuilding and do have some interesting pieces, but are far from being a competitive team on paper. The Pelicans certainly can't let this one slip if they want to hope for a Cup playoff run.
Nov. 20 - at Oklahoma City Thunder
Never fun to see the Thunder on the schedule these days. Even in a smaller tournament like this, their roster is just loaded with talent and will always be a dangerous team. Add that this is on the road and no one will be picking the New Orleans to win this one.
Nov. 27 - at Los Angeles Clippers
It's unclear what this game will actually look like, as the NBA world waits to see if this Kawhi Leonard trade ends up going through. This is potentially another reunion with Brandon Ingram, or whatever they look like after this punishment gets handed out.
