The New Orleans Pelicans’ team history only dates back to the 2002-3 season, so most of their record books are dominated by a handful of players.
In fact, Brandon Ingram is already surprisingly high on some of the team’s all-time lists.
Anthony Davis, Chris Paul, David West and Jrue Holiday feature prominently when we talk about Pelicans’ history, but the Pels have had a lot of great players over the years.
None of these guys were superstars in the league, but they were quality NBA players who had amazing seasons for the Pelicans that sometimes get overlooked as we focus more on Zion Williamson and the future of the current team.
These three players weren’t the best players the Pelicans ever had, but I do think they are a bit underrated. Here they are in no particular order.
New Orleans Pelicans most underrated players: Peja Stojakovic
Stojakovic is one of those guys who would probably be even better if he played now, but people forget just how good he was.
Imagine a 6-foot-9 small forward who can hit 44 percent of his 3-point shots and you’ve got Peja, who I wish we could clone and put on the Pelicans now.
He never quite had any seasons like his All-Star campaigns in Sacramento but Stojakovic was very good in his three seasons with the Pelicans, averaging 16.4 points and 4.3 rebounds per game while shooting 44 percent from long range in his best one.
That 2007-8 team was really fun and people forget just how great of a shooter this guy was. New Orleans didn’t get the prime-Peja, but he had some very good seasons in the Big Easy.