The New Orleans Pelicans don’t have a long history in the NBA, so they don’t have any deep-rooted rivalries based on tradition.
Without having had many playoff clashes, Pels fans have had little chance to build up the kind of intensity that you need to sustain a rivalry.
The constant movement in the NBA also makes this a reality, as fans have more attachment to their teams than the players, who all seem to change teams these days.
But the New Orleans Pelicans are on the cusp of being good and have a young team that has a chance to realize sustained success, and when they do, the rivalries will form.
Here are three teams to circle on your calendar this season, as they have a chance to form some long-term rivalries with the Pelicans.
New Orleans Pelicans: The Houston Rockets are a team to watch
One team that has a chance for a long-term rivalry with the New Orleans Pelicans is the Houston Rockets.
The Rockets are in the Pels’ division, so they are very familiar with each other, but both teams will have some new faces that could ratchet up the intensity.
The Rockets are rebuilding around youth, just like the Pelicans and have a brash new rookie in Jalen Green who is not shy about talking trash or making predictions.
He’ll be fired up to show he can be a superstar like Zion Williamson. The Rockets also feature Christian Wood, a player the Pelicans cut, who has since gone on to become one of the most improved players in the league.
He’ll be eager to show the Pelicans that they made a mistake, so I expect the Rockets to bring it against New Orleans this season, which will lead to some intense games.
New Orleans Pelicans: The Memphis Grizzlies are the Pels’ biggest current rival
The New Orleans Pelicans and Memphis Grizzlies have a lot of connections that have made them rivals over the last few seasons.
Both are small market teams desperate to have sustained playoff success.
Zion and Ja Morant were the first two picks in the 2019 draft and will always be compared.
The two teams are in the same division and have been close in the standings the last two seasons.
And the Pelicans just traded Steven Adams and Eric Bledsoe to the Grizz for Jonas Valanciunas. Bledsoe has already relocated to the Clippers but Adams and Valanciunas will both be gunning for their former teams.
All of this should lead to years of rivalry for the Grizzlies and Pelicans, whose fans have semi-friendly banter on social media and like to rub wins in the other team’s faces.
It’s questionable whether either team improved this offseason, so they will likely be battling it out for one of the last playoff spots once again next season.
New Orleans Pelicans: The Chicago Bulls will be a rivalry for the fans
Like I said, players move around so much that one season’s rival might be your teammate next season, which makes it hard to hate each other.
Modern players are much friendlier than they were in the heyday of NBA rivalries, when players actually loathed one another after battling on the same teams for years.
I don’t think there is any ill-will between Lonzo Ball and his former Pelican teammates, who are all friends, so the rivalry with the Bulls will be waged by the fan bases.
Lonzo Ball Stans will be eager to rub any success he has in the faces of Pels’ fans to show that they were right about their guy all along.
When the Bulls and Pelicans play it is going to be much uglier on Twitter than it will be on the court, as the players will be hugging their old teammate while fans duke it out online.
It should lead to some fun games and I could see Lonzo Ball eventually morphing into Villain #2 in New Orleans (Anthony Davis has the #1 spot locked up) not necessarily because of anything he has done, but because Pels’ fans are going to get sick of being trolled by his fans.
It should be fun, and hopefully the New Orleans Pelicans will start winning so that these rivalries will matter.