New Orleans Pelicans: Breaking down Nickeil Alexander-Walker’s improvement

Nickeil Alexander-Walker has been a revelation in recent weeks for the New Orleans Pelicans, seeing a huge uptick in play brought upon by Lonzo Ball’s absence.

Alexander-Walker stepped into the Pelicans’ starting lineup on March 21 after Ball was sidelined with a hip injury. In the five contests since, he has been a boon for the playoff-chasing Pels, but his improvement goes back to a shift in role that started two games prior to that.

Since March 16, the Virginia Tech product has been employed in a capacity more akin to that of Ball’s this season. Stan Van Gundy’s decision to tweak Alexander-Walker’s use was a shrewd one and, despite the small sample size, looks primed to consolidate the Canadian combo guard as a permanent fixture in New Orleans’ rotation.

In the seven games after the clear shift in Alexander-Walker’s role, he has averaged about 16 points per game and is shooting a scorching 42 percent from three on more than nine attempts per game. Since entering the starting lineup, in particular, Alexander-Walker is yet to shoot less than nine threes on any given night.

That is a massive increase in volume for Alexander-Walker. Prior to this, he only took three and a half threes per night on under 30 percent shooting. Alexander-Walker’s playing time was inconsistent and he was barely scoring over eight points.

It’s evident that the former Hokie should not be relied on as a self-dependent player at this stage of his career. This is only his second year in the NBA and, even then, there are still moments where the speed of the league looks too fast for Alexander-Walker. That’s why a more simplified, co-dependent role looks a much better fit for him.

We can see this by delving a bit further into the threes that Alexander-Walker is putting up. Since his volume in threes generously increased, Alexander-Walker is taking a bit over eight catch-and-shoot threes per game and making them at a 42.4 percent clip. That’s more of those threes than anyone on the Pelicans by a considerable margin and puts him in the range of what Ball has achieved from downtown this season.

Before his hip injury, Ball was shooting around six catch-and-shoot threes per game at a 41 percent clip. Roughly 64 percent of Ball’s shots came from the perimeter, very close to how 65 percent of Alexander-Walker’s shots are threes since mid-March. These are nearly identical offensive roles, with the main difference being that Ball’s facilitating far exceeds that of Alexander-Walker’s.