The New Orleans Pelicans have two of the best young players in the league in Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram.
They both had great seasons last year, though Ingram’s was largely overlooked and he was snubbed for his second All-Star appearance while Zion made his first.
It’s not surprising, as the team wasn’t very good last season, and the Western Conference is loaded at forward, so the Pels will have to have more team success if Ingram wants to take home some individual hardware.
The New Orleans Pelicans have improved in some areas, and probably taken a step back in others, so it’s possible that they will be better next season, especially if their two stars find another level.
New Orleans Pelicans: Will Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram carry even more of the load?
The Pelicans got rid of three starters in Lonzo Ball, Eric Bledsoe and Steven Adams, replacing them with Devonte’ Graham and Jonas Valanciunas.
While I think their new players will be better fits, they still have to replace the points, shots, assists and rebounds provided by those three.
Graham and Valanciunas will take care of some of it, as Graham puts up similar numbers to Lonzo and Valanciunas is much better than Adams.
Trey Murphy III should more than make up for the loss of Bledsoe, but with such a young team, the Pelicans will need their two stars to shoulder even more of the burden on the offensive end.
I think this will lead to some huge seasons for Zion and B.I. and their stats will show it.