New Orleans Pelicans: Why Kira Lewis Jr. should start in the G-League

The New Orleans Pelicans should start Kira Lewis Jr. in the G-League.

The New Orleans Pelicans only used one of their four picks in the 2020 NBA Draft, selecting Kira Lewis Jr. with the #13 pick.

Generally, when teams choose in the lottery they expect that player to come in and make some type of impact in his first season.

We’ve already seen some early flashes of potential first-year contributors in guys like Tyrese Maxey, Patrick Williams and Isaac Okoro, but what about the Pels’ rookie?

Kira Lewis Jr. was one of the youngest players in the draft at just 19, so is he ready to contribute to an NBA rotation?

Obviously, Stan Van Gundy knows his team better than anyone and probably has a good idea of which players are going to make the early-season rotation.

The Pels would love if Lewis Jr. were ready to seize the backup point guard role, but it would be much better for him in the long run to start the season in the G-League.

Here’s why.

New Orleans Pelicans: Kira Lewis Jr.’s development will benefit from the G-League

First off, the G-League is still pretty up in the air in terms of how things are going to be run, how many games will be played and even how many teams will participate, but the Pelicans’ new Birmingham squad will be one of them.

Here are three reasons Kira Lewis Jr. should be on it:

1. Point guard is the most difficult position to learn. Lonzo Ball is in his fourth season and is still learning the ins and outs of the pick-and-roll and how to run an offense. Point guard takes time and Lewis Jr. is still a teenager. The Pels can speed up this process by allowing him to play big minutes in the G-League where he will run the team and learn the position.
2. Lewis Jr. is not going to get minutes in the rotation. At some point this season we may see him carve out some minutes for himself but as of now, I am not sure where they would come from. The Pels have seven guards competing for minutes, so even if Lewis Jr. was in the rotation he wouldn’t be playing much. We saw a glimpse of this in the first preseason game, when Lewis Jr. was the last guard off the bench and only played ten minutes late in a lopsided game. He needs more reps than a few minutes of mop-up duty once a week and won’t get them with the Pelicans.
3. The Pelicans don’t currently need him. Sure, they don’t really have a backup point guard, but they have plenty of guys who can handle the ball. Brandon Ingram performed admirably in that role with the second unit in game one and appears ready to take on more responsibility as a primary ball-handler. Nickeil Alexander-Walker can handle the ball some, Zion Williamson will bring it up occasionally and Eric Bledsoe is actually a point guard playing the two. At the moment Kira Lewis Jr. is a luxury that the Pels can afford to stash in the G-League.

Unlike some of the other teams who drafted in the lottery, the New Orleans Pelicans are actually trying to win and make the playoffs, which is why it would be best to start Kira Lewis Jr. in the G-League.

It’s not the most exciting option but it is the right one.