William Guillory and John Hollinger of The Athletic take stock of where things stand for the Pelicans entering 2023/24, with both writers noting that it will be a critical season for the organization.
New Orleans doesn’t have much choice but to see whether or not a core of Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram can be successful together, according to Hollinger, despite the duo only playing 12 games together over the past two seasons. However, he would seriously consider trading one of them next summer if the team has another disappointing season.
As Guillory points out, the Pelicans will be facing salary cap difficulties in both the short and long term, so the pressure entering ’23/24 will be much higher than in previous years. Finding a replacement at center for Jonas Valanciunas, who is entering the final year of his contract, should be a priority going forward if the team doesn’t plan to retain him, according to both authors.
Here’s more on the Pelicans:
- Technology company Ankr PBC has filed a civil lawsuit against Williamson, his stepfather and his mother, writes Brett Martel of The Associated Press. The lawsuit alleges Williamson and his family failed to pay back $1.8MM of a $2MM loan. Ankr had hoped Williamson would be a spokesperson for the company, with his stepfather, Lee Anderson, serving as his representative during negotiations, per Martel. Anderson is the person who requested the loan a couple years ago, the lawsuit states.
- Jose Alvarado is still recovering from the stress reaction in his right tibia, which he sustained in February, and the injury will prevent him from representing Puerto Rico during the upcoming World Cup, according to Andrew Lopez of ESPN. Pelicans sources tell Lopez that the move is precautionary, but it certainly seems somewhat problematic that a recent MRI indicated Alvarado’s tibia isn’t fully healed after five months. The point guard’s minimum-salary contract for 2023/24 is fully non-guaranteed, as we noted earlier today. That’s not to say he’s in any danger of being released — prior to going down with the leg injury, he was a regular part of the Pelicans’ rotation, averaging 9.0 points, 3.0 assists, 2.3 rebounds and 1.1 steals in 21.5 minutes per night (61 games).
- Former lottery pick Kira Lewis remains a trade candidate worth monitoring, per Michael Scotto of HoopsHype, who notes that dumping Lewis’ salary would take New Orleans out of luxury tax territory. The 22-year-old returned from a torn ACL last season, averaging 4.6 points and 1.3 rebounds in limited action (9.4 minutes per night in 25 games).
It’s pretty clear at this point Williamson is listening to the wrong people. Shame, kid it tossing his career away
It’s his body type. He’s to big and powerful and well beyond the limitations of the human body. Giving him a max deal was dumber than Chicago giving Lonzo Ball $80 million despite him getting hurt in college, in the Summer League, and in every season in the pros. He’s got a chance to prove me wrong this year though…
There were several teams that wanted Lonzo, and would have signed him to either that exact same deal or something pretty close.
It’s easy to say that it was a mistake now, but it was far from a “dumb” decision by Chicago. When Lonzo was healthy, the Bulls had the best record in the East. A player that can have that kind of impact on your team is almost impossible to acquire without having to trade away multiple assets.
All players suffer from minor injuries here and there throughout their NBA careers, so it is easy to point at this or that after the fact. NO ONE could have predicted Lonzo would miss this amount of time, or that he would have had an injury that would have caused him to miss multiple seasons back to back.
That’s like saying the Warriors, the Nets, and the Suns are all stupid for acquiring KD, the Nuggets shouldn’t have drafted or resigned Michael Porter Jr., the Warriors should have just given up on and released Steph Curry because of his ankle issues, etc. The list goes on and on…
I mean, it isn’t like the Bulls trainers and doctors didn’t fully examine Lonzo before they signed him. Although, with your power of hindsight, they are just a bunch of idiots too apparently.
It was the perfect fit for the Bulls, and they would have been dumb NOT TO sign Lonzo…
114 games over 4 seasons with a 5 year max contract starting up. At this point, a 50 game season would be a small miracle.
What a bizarre situation with Williamson. The lawsuit states this company which specialises in blockchain finances, “advised Zion of a personal trainer and a chef”.
He’s probably had 1000 trainers suggested to him. Hell, I’m on MLBTR and I can throw a few names at him too – what’s that got to do with anything?
“The lawsuit alleges Williamson and his family failed to pay back $1.8MM of a $2MM loan.”
Thanks for copying and pasting part of the MLBTR post, but I’m talking about something in the actual article.
Not unique but this Pelicans situation is such a bummer! When they’re firing they are deadly and fun to watch. Just doesn’t seem to be in the cards. Happy to be proven wrong, but at this point I just don’t see it coming together for them.
It’s a dang shame:(
I completely agree.
I mean, their still a flawed team either way, but both the Hornets and the NBA are just better with Zion healthy and playing..
CJM, BI, Zion, Trey Murphy, Valanciunas, Herb Jones, Alvarado, Nance Jr., and now with Jordan Hawkins that isn’t a bad 9-man rotation, and with their size and length they can definitely cause some issues for their opponents any given night..
I just really hope he can finally get mentally and physically healthy enough to play, because even without all of his acrobatics as a dunker, Zion is still a great talent.
Honestly, I have absolutely NO CLUE what to expect though…