New Orleans Pelicans Star Jeremiah Fears Finally Has This Season's Breakout

The start to this season had been frustrating for New Orleans Pelicans sophomore Jeremiah Fears, but he finally had his breakout for this year against the Sacramento Kings and fellow young star guard Darius Acuff Jr.

Fears finished with season highs across the board as he filled up the stat sheet: 22 points, eight rebounds, 13 assists (career-high), two steals and four blocks (career-high). It was his first double-double with assists.

Some of the discourse around Fears seems to forget that he turned 20 years old just over two weeks ago. It's going to take time to watch him develop into a consistent NBA star, but the Pelicans are giving him that runway because of how high they are on his talent. This game was an example of why they believe he can be the point guard of the future.

It was great to see Fears' confidence continue to grow throughout the night after another slow night. The coaching staff has praised his work ethic and everyone knows how confident he is in his abilities; that was easy to see in this game, as he could have easily started to slink away after some first-quarter struggles while Acuff was consistently giving him buckets on the other side.

Instead, Fears started getting teammates more involved and found ways to impact the game positively on the defensive side of the ball instead of getting hunted. He likely won't ever turn into an All-Defense player, but this type of effort with six forced turnovers should keep coaches happy.

One clear difference for Fears in this game is that there was no other point guard in the lineup competing for the role. This is less about it being specifically Dejounte Murray who was throwing him off, and more about the young player clearly being more comfortable as the point guard of the lineup.

Whenever Murray returns to the court, New Orleans should cut down on the minutes that they share together as it is clearly not a fit. Joe Dumars has spoken about giving duos time to work things out on the court in the past, though, so leadership might not be so quick to give up.

It could be a difficult conversation on either side, but someone should be taken out of the starting lineup, and neither has had consistent, quality performances this year. Murray is a veteran making $32.8 million this season, and Fears is a developing player whom the team clearly wants to see starting right now. Using Databallr, both are better without the other on the court, and when they share the floor, the team is 25.5 points worse per 100 possessions.