The New Orleans Pelicans are in a critical four-game stretch of the season and didn’t get off to a good start with a loss to the tanking Orlando Magic.
The Pelicans were without Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram and Lonzo Ball, which forced some of their backups into big minutes.
The Pels finally ran out of gas in the 4th quarter after entering it with a lead and then allowed the Magic to take it home in overtime.
This was a crushing loss in many ways, as the Pelicans were playing their best basketball of the season before finally getting hit with the injury bug that they’ve managed to avoid.
The league is not going to slow down and wait, so the Pelicans are right back at it tonight against Atlanta and may be missing all of the same players.
After looking like they might surge into the playoffs, the Pels are now back to thinking about the lottery again. This has been the case for most of the season, as the Pels have been inconsistent and vacillate from contender to pretender sometimes in the same game.
So are the New Orleans Pelicans headed to the playoffs or the lottery?
New Orleans Pelicans: What are the Pelicans’ lottery and playoff odds?
The Pels have been a tweener team all season, hovering between the playoff hunt and the lottery.
They are just 1.5 games out of the play-in tournament in the Western Conference and have games remaining against the Warriors, which is currently the team they are chasing.
But the Pelicans are still in the lottery and would have the 10th pick in the draft if things stayed as they are.
Tenth position would give them a 13.9 percent chance at a top-four pick and a three percent chance of getting the number one overall.
According to FiveThirtyEight, the pelicans have just a 29 percent chance of making the playoffs after last night’s loss.
Playoff and lottery odds are going to change from game to game for the rest of the season and the Pels can propel themselves in either direction by winning or losing a few games in a row.
This has been a season full of drama for the Pelicans, so it would be nice to see them quiet the critics and make a run at the playoffs, but it would also be nice for them to grab another player with star potential in the draft.
If the New Orleans Pelicans aren’t sure what they are at the moment and it might take all of the remaining games to figure it out.