Listen, we all know hindsight is 20/20 and that it would be great if, before letting go of a player, your favorite team could look into a crystal ball to see what the future holds for that individual. But unfortunately, that isn’t the case. And sometimes, teams let go of players that would have been nice to have down the road.
For the New Orleans Pelicans, they have done a nice job of filling out their 2023-24 roster. But they still have some holes, holes that could have been filled by guys they once previously rostered. So, to celebrate the occasion, we decided to look at five former Pelicans the team will definitely miss this season.
1. Anthony Davis
We figured we’d get the obvious one out of the way. Also, now is the perfect time to mention that, for this exercise, we won’t focus on what the team would miss out on if they didn’t trade away/let go of said player. This isn’t a time machine exercise. We are just looking at the players themselves.
Anyway, outside of being one of the very best basketball players on the planet (and arguably the best player in franchise history), Davis provides one skill the Pelicans are sorely lacking: rim protection. Last season, the Pelicans allowed the highest opponent rim field goal percentage in the league (per Cleaning the Glass).
Meanwhile, Davis’ Los Angeles Lakers allowed the eighth-lowest percentage of opponent shots to be taken at the rim (remember, the best rim protectors are the ones that deter shots at the rim). Just imagine him anchoring the defense while Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson were quarterbacking the offense. That’s a title contender if I’ve ever seen one.