New Orleans Pelicans: Looking at 5 rivals the team could have in the Zion era

Utah Jazz

This addition may come as a surprise to some but the Utah Jazz can’t be ignored in the western conference. The Jazz are fresh off a 50-win campaign, their core had another year to develop together but they ultimately fell short in the first round of the playoffs against the Houston Rockets.

So they retooled, bringing in players like Mike Conley, Bojan Bogdanovic, and Ed Davis to assist them in getting over the hump while being one of their more formidable teams of the conference. Many analysts have them finishing as either the top seed or near it next season and their future beyond that does look appealing.

There’s a pretty high chance that the Pelicans see this team in a playoff series in the next few years given how the seedings may fall into place. The Jazz have an elite defense, the Pelicans should have one as well, they have their franchise stable, so do the Pelicans, they possess a strong front office in a smaller market, once again so do the Pels.

Perhaps the two organizations relive the CP3 vs D-Will rivalry days…if you could really call it that.