New Orleans Pelicans: Looking at 5 rivals the team could have in the Zion era
By Nolan Jensen
Memphis Grizzlies
The Grizzlies might not be your immediate response when asked who the Pelicans future rivals might be, but they’re definitely in the mix. Memphis has a really exciting core of Ja Morant, Jaren Jackson Jr., and Brandon Clarke—they’re going to be good. And chances are the two teams’ timelines will mesh once they reach their potential.
Being in the same division, they’re going to see each other up to four times per season. They both possess no shortages of young talent, this could be a marquee matchup in the near future.
Morant vs Ball (or potentially NAW), Jackson Jr. vs Zion, even Clarke vs Hayes provide fans with very intriguing matchups down the line. The Grizzlies are entering year one of their new era, just like the Pelicans, but with slightly fewer expectations (Pelicans have an outside shot at the playoffs, Memphis…not so much).
They’re still years away from making noise in the western conference, but when it’s time to starting thinking contention, the Pelicans could be in a win-now mode aswell. This could be a really fun inner-division rivalry in a few years.