NBA Preseason Power Rankings: Where do the New Orleans Pelicans land?
By Nick Alvarez
25. Charlotte Hornets
This was a big offseason for the Charlotte Hornets, not only were able to land the 3rd overall pick and select LaMelo Ball, the player some experts felt was the best in the draft, but they also landed former All-Star Gordon Hayward too. Those two major additions join an electric scoring guard in Devonte’ Graham and a scrappy wing in Miles Bridges to form a unique roster in the NBA.
On top of those building blocks, the Hornets have one of the NBA’s most underrated head coaches in James Borrego. Their talent while interesting isn’t considered to be top-tier by any means. So the Hornets might outperform some of their projection, but it’s unlikely that they’ll make any major noise in 2021.
24. Sacramento Kings
The Sacramento Kings made the race for the 8th seed interesting for the New Orleans Pelicans last year, and this year they should be involved in that race once again. De’Aaron Fox has already shown that he’s one of the best young guards in the league, and the Kings have surrounded him with some underrated players.
With the major additions of Tyrese Haliburton and Hassan Whiteside, could this year’s Kings finally be the team that snaps the franchise’s playoff drought? I doubt it. The Western Conference is just too good that the Kings would need their young players to play out of their minds for the whole season, I don’t think that’s possible, and I also don’t believe in Luke Walton as a head coach.