The New Orleans Pelicans have had a great start to the season, with a 12-8 record after 20 games that is good for the 3rd seed in the competitive Western Conference.
The Pels have done it in a variety of ways, as they have had five different players lead them in scoring, and they’ve done it in the paint as well as from the 3-point line.
And this is all without having their full roster, as Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram have both missed time, as have CJ McCollum and Herbert Jones.
I think New Orleans should be ecstatic about their start given their injury problems and it is scary to think about how good this team can be if they ever get everyone healthy at the same time.
The Pels have only played 10 games with their full starting lineup, but are still putting up numbers and piling up wins with different guys stepping up every night.
Before the season, we took a look at the odds for individual awards and made some predictions about which Pelicans were the best bets.
So how is that looking after 20 games? A lot has changed.
New Orleans Pelicans: Odds for NBA season awards
*All odds come from Fanduel, refresh periodically and are subject to change.
Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram for MVP
Start of the season: Zion +2500, Ingram +1300
After 20 games: Zion +12000, Ingram +49000
Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram were long shots for MVP before the season started and are even more so now after injuries have slowed their starts.
Both guys are averaging over 20 per game, and the Pelicans are winning, so those odds seem a bit ridiculous, especially for Zion, who has yet to really get going and could end up near the league leaders in scoring by the end of the season.
Right now Giannis Antetokounmpo, Luka Doncic, Jayson Tatum and Stephen Curry are the MVP favorites.
One thing that has hurt Zion and BI’s chances is New Orleans really spreads it around, with six players averaging double digits and Larry Nance Jr. not far off at 9.4 points per game.
Neither Zion nor BI even lead the team in shot attempts, as CJ McCollum is currently taking more than two more shots per game than either of them.
This will likely change as the season progresses, so if you think Zion is going to blow up at some point, now is the time to bet, as you will get +12000 odds.
New Orleans Pelicans: Odds for NBA season awards
Dyson Daniels for Rookie of the Year
Start of the season: Dyson Daniels +4000
After 20 games: +50000
Daniels odds have gone WAY up, which is not surprising, as he has only recently become a regular part of the rotation.
Daniels is still the 9th or 10th man off the bench at this point, so he has little chance to pile up stats compared to rookies like Paolo Banchero, Jaden Ivey and Bennedict Mathurin, who are playing much larger roles on their teams.
Daniels is getting more run of late and I think that will continue, as he keeps making an impact (especially defensively) and filling the scorecard with a variety of stats.
Like Herb Jones, it will be harder to measure his impact as a rookie who doesn’t score a ton of points, but I do suspect that his odds will be much lower as the season progresses and he continues play a bigger role on a good team.
Herbert Jones for Defensive Player of the Year
Start of the season: Herb Jones +4600
After 20 games: +8000
Jones had to miss a few games with injury, but his odds probably shouldn’t have dipped this much.
He doesn’t have the counting stats that some defenders rack up in terms of blocks and steals, but if you watch the games, his impact is obvious. Herb continues to take on the toughest assignment night after night, defends all five positions and has been the best defender on the team with the 6th-best defensive rating in the league.
Brook Lopez and Giannis Antetokounmpo are the favorites right now, but that could definitely change if the Pelicans keep winning and their defense keeps improving.
Herb may not win this award, but he has a great chance to make All-Defense this season.
New Orleans Pelicans: Odds for NBA season awards
Trey Murphy III for Most Improved Player
Start of the season: Trey Murphy III +13000
After 20 games: +24000
You can see that TMIII’s odds for Most Improved Player have nearly doubled from the start of the season, which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense considering he has doubled nearly all of his stats from last season, is shooting a high percentage and is doing it in a bigger role on a good team.
But he is up against some stiff competition in this one, as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is running away with this award and even if he wasn’t Lauri Markkanen and Tyrese Haliburton among others are still ahead of TMIII despite his improvement.
Zion was also listed for this award, which really made no sense at the time and even less now.
Trey Murphy III for 6th Man of the Year
Start of the season: Trey Murphy +5500
After 20 games: +13000
Right now, rookie Bennedict Mathurin is probably the frontrunner for this award, as he has been scoring nearly 20 per game off the bench for Indiana, who are the surprising 4th seed in the Eastern Conference right now.
This award usually goes to a player on a good team, so I do think TMIII has a chance, especially if he can get closer to 16-18 points per game by the end of the season. But that is going to be tough on a team with so many scorers.
If the Pacers were to fall off, and the Pelicans keep winning, Murphy III could get some recognition by the end of the season, but right now is looking like a long shot even though he has gotten a lot better.