The New Orleans Pelicans received a poor assessment in a recent review of how NBA teams have performed at the season's midpoint.
Now past the halfway mark of the season, the New Orleans Pelicans can officially categorize this year as a disappointment.
ESPN's Kevin Pelton© Jim Rassol-Imagn Images recently released midseason grades for every NBA team. The Pelicans were near the bottom of the league with a 'D' rating.
For comparison, they received the same grade as the Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Clippers and Sacramento Kings. The only team to finish below them was the Milwaukee Bucks at a 'D-'.
New Orleans entered this season with a win projection of 30.5. They currently sit at 10-35 and have an updated projection of just 22.3 wins. That is a big dip for an already low number.
It's never easy to know how the first year of a new tenure will go, which is why the expectations were where they were for this Pelicans team league-wide, but Joe Dumars and Troy Weaver have a lot of work to do to turn this ship around.
One of the reasons is that their grade is so low is that Dumars and Weaver have already dealt the 2026 first-round pick, so they are not benefiting from this losing at all.
They stand among a bunch of teams that are tanking at the bottom of the standings, yet their pick will be going to the Atlanta Hawks.
That trade also leads to probably the biggest positive from this season in Derik Queen. He hasn't been New Orleans' best player, but he looks fantastic for a rookie and has provided a path forward as someone new to build around.
Queen has averaged 13.4 points, eight rebounds, 5.1 assists, a steal and a block per game since entering the starting lineup back in the middle of November.
He isn't a perfect player or anything. He makes mistakes on offense and his defense is a negative, but he just turned 21 years old and already looks like a future centerpiece for this offense.
As a bonus, he fits like a glove next to Trey Murphy, who has taken another star turn as of late. In January, he is averaging 29.1 points, 6.1 rebounds and 4.3 assists on 51.3/40.8/85.3 shooting splits.
Those are two young players to focus the roster building around. They also have guys like Jeremiah Fears, Herb Jones, Saddiq Bey and Zion Williamson who have also played well this year.
There are things to be excited about, but they don't come together to make a good basketball team right now. The defense has been putrid all year long, and James Borrego has improved the offense, but they still can't shoot well enough to stay in games.
On paper, this team should be far better than 10-35, but the games are played on a court.