Availability is an ability the New Orleans Pelicans need to target

The New Orleans Pelicans have one of the best “Big 3″s in the NBA in Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram and CJ McCollum. The problem is that none of them are available right now.

The Pels have around 75 points on the injured list, which has been a recurring problem over the last few seasons.

One of my favorite sports’ cliches is “Availability is the best ability.” And this one certainly applies to the New Orleans Pelicans.

It doesn’t matter how much talent you have or how good your team is on paper if they aren’t on the floor, which is the case with the Pelicans, whose depth chart barely looks like an NBA team right now with their three stars out.

Zion Williamson has missed the entire season. Brandon Ingram has had to miss significant time and now CJ McCollum is out with COVID.

McCollum has mostly been reliable in his career, playing 70+ games in five seasons, so he is not a concern, but the Pels’ two young stars are, as both have been injury prone in their respective careers.

The New Orleans Pelicans have to target players who aren’t injury prone

Zion Williamson’s various injuries have gotten most of the attention, but Brandon Ingram has also missed a fair amount of time in his young career, which is a problem, as the Pels are relying on these two to be the cornerstones of their franchise.

After playing in 79 games his rookie season, Ingram has had seasons of 59, 52, 62 and 61 games played.

Zion Williamson played just 24 games in his rookie season, what seems to be an amazing 61 games last season and exactly zero in this one.

It’s not a great sign for the health of your stars if 60 games played looks like a best-case scenario.

Having two injury prone stars could make the Pelicans adjust their strategy in the draft and free agency, leaning towards guys who do not have a long history of injuries.

Herbert Jones is a good start, as he has played in 63 of the 66 games this season, as he looks to finish strong.

But this is something the Pelicans are going to have to consider moving forward, as they are building around stars that aren’t the most reliable and will need to surround them with guys that are.