Pelicans stock market: Who is trending heading into March?
The New Orleans Pelicans have won two impressive road games as they head into March in a tie for the final play-in spot.
They knocked off the Suns, who are missing Chris Paul, behind a huge night from Brandon Ingram and CJ McCollum, who has been one of the NBA’s hottest players since coming to New Orleans at the deadline.
They then dominated the lifeless Los Angeles Lakers, who were never able to match their energy and got booed out of their home gym.
This matchup was even more important considering the Pelicans will get to keep the pick the Lakers owe them if it fall in the top-10 of the 2022 NBA Draft.
light. Related Story. Dreaming of the Pelicans at full strength
Things are trending up for New Orleans as a whole, but how about each player? Here is the Pelicans’ stock market as we head into March.
New Orleans Pelicans stock market: March 2022
The fringe
Garrett Temple-Trending down
Temple has been mercifully removed from the rotation in favor of Tony Snell and Naji Marshall. His veteran leadership has been valuable at times but he’s been one of the weak links off the bench all season.
Trey Murphy III- Trending down
Murphy III hasn’t been a meaningful part of the rotation all season and was recently assigned to the G-League. It doesn’t appear he’ll be cracking the rotation this season, which is somewhat disappointing considering how thin their bench has been at times.
Gary Clark- Trending down
Clark saw just three minutes in the blowout of the Lakers, so he too appears to be getting squeezed out of the rotation since the CJ McCollum trade.
Willie Hernangomez- Trending down
Hernangomez has played well at times for the Pelicans this season, but he’s not been able to get on the floor much lately, as coach Green seems more comfortable going with the versatile forwards at his disposal and use Jonas Valanciunas and Jaxson Hayes as the primary bigs.