Things couldn’t have started much worse for the New Orleans Pelicans in the 2021-22 season.
The Pels are just 1-6, tied for the worst record in the NBA, and still have no idea when they are going to get Zion Williamson back from injury.
He will have scans soon to determine his status, but it could still be weeks before the Pelicans get their star back and it might be weeks after that before he is 100 percent.
In other words, if the New Orleans Pelicans want to have any chance to make a run this season, they are going to have to stay afloat without Zion Williamson, which isn’t going to be easy considering what they face in November.
The Pelicans will be entering one of the toughest stretches of their schedule and potentially doing it without their two best players.
New Orleans Pelicans: Injuries have stalled the 2021-22 season
Obviously, losing Zion Williamson for any amount of time was going to be tough for the Pelicans to overcome, as their entire offense is built around him and doesn’t work when he’s not in the lineup.
Josh Hart has also missed time due to injury, though it appears he is now back. The Pels were dealt another blow when Brandon Ingram had to miss the last game vs. the Knicks with a knee contusion that has him listed as day-to-day.
If Ingram has to miss any more games the New Orleans Pelicans are going to be in real trouble, as their offense has been bad enough with him in it and without him just doesn’t have the firepower to compete.
Even if the Pels can get back to full strength this month, they are facing a brutal schedule.
New Orleans Pelicans schedule: November doesn’t get any easier
If you are looking for reasons to be optimistic about the Pelicans saving their season, you won’t find them on the November schedule.
The New Orleans Pelicans will play 16 games in the month of November, including two back-to-backs.
Of those 16 games, 10 will be on the road, which shouldn’t matter too much, as the Pelicans have yet to win at home this season anyway.
However, 12 of the 16 games will be against teams with playoff aspirations, including the Suns, Warriors, Mavericks , Nets, Grizzlies, Wizards, Miami and two each against the Jazz and Clippers.
Both the Suns and Clippers have started out poorly, but will still not be easy games, and the Pels won’t be favored in any of the other ones.
If the New Orleans Pelicans can’t get a few unexpected victories against quality teams this month, they might be in a deep hole by the end of it.
We should know where they are by the time they play the back-to-back in Utah, and by then, Pels’ fans might be paying more attention to draft prospects than the standings.
New Orleans Pelicans: Should the Pels tank? Not yet.
It is only the beginning of November, so it is far too early to write this team off, especially when so many other teams have started off poorly in the Western Conference.
As bad as they have been, the Pelicans are still only two games out of the final play-in spot and could be right in the mix with a good week.
But if Zion Williamson can’t come back in November and the Pelicans are still floundering, it’s possible they’ll be in a hole too big to climb out of by the end of the month.
I don’t think the New Orleans Pelicans are ever going to tank outright as long as Zion is on the roster, but they might not have a choice if he doesn’t come back soon.
This is definitely not ideal, as the Pels were hoping to take he next logical step in their road to contention, so failing to even make the play-in would be a big blow.
On the flip side, there are some really good players coming out of this draft, so if the Pels are going to be bad anyway, we might see this team turn entirely to their youth and let them develop whether they get wins or not.
This isn’t how we wanted things to go and the New Orleans Pelicans really only have a month to start to turn things around.