Despite having their second straight sub-30-win season, the New Orleans Pelicans entered the 2026 offseason with a ton of optimism surrounding the franchise. All that hype is gone with the Western Conference continuing to get strong and the Pelicans staying the same.
The offseason got off to a great start with the hire of Jamahl Mosley, and they were expected to progress in that same direction after Joe Dumars said he didn’t feel this team was far off from competing. With several tradable contracts and valuable draft capital, many fans felt the Pelicans could turn things around and be back in the playoff mix next season. All the front office needed to do was add more floor spacers and find a starting-caliber center.
After the NBA draft, optimism took a hit with the Pelicans standing pat at No. 58 and drafting Jaron Pierre Jr., but there was still hope with free agency around the corner. And then they made a move, they signed a center, but not a starting one, rather 37-year-old DeAndre Jordan, who was essentially being re-signed to be an extension of the coaching staff and log no playing time.
The Pelicans are now left with one open roster spot to improve a roster that won 26 games last season, while the rest of the conference is lapping them.
The Pelicans can't win in the current Western Conference
The Pelicans finished as the 11th seed out West last season and were 11 games out of the final play-in spot, so the idea that this team could get better and be in the playoff race wasn’t an unrealistic one. However, that didn’t mean running back the same roster was going to change the results, as some form of roster improvement was needed.
That need for improvement has only been amplified by what teams around the West have done to improve and get stronger.
Starting with Utah, who added Darryn Peterson at No. 2 in the draft and is set for their first full season with Jaren Jackson Jr. in the frontcourt. Then you have the Lakers, who addressed their biggest needs, center play and floor spacing, with the additions of Walker Kessler, Sandro Mamukelashvili
, Quentin Grimes, and Collin Sexton. Coinciding with the Lakers is the Warriors, who appear to be positioning themselves to sign LeBron James to potentially team up with Anthony Davis, Steph Curry, and Draymond Green.
Other teams that got better by the margins were the Rockets, who signed Marcus Smart, and the Suns, who traded for Miles Bridges and signed Luke Kennard. All while the Spurs signed Tobias Harris , OKC got a 7-foot-4 monster in the draft, Portland bought low on Ja Morant, the Mavericks are getting back a healthy Kyrie Irving, and the Timberwolves finally got a lead guard. Oh, and the Nuggets still have Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray.
Looking at all these moves, I found myself asking where the Pelicans' competing fits in with the current state of the West. And the conclusion I came to was simple: they don’t.
Sure, they could finally hit the 30-win mark they’ve failed to reach the last two seasons, but that’s about it. Obviously, some are wary of entering a rebuild with the new draft lottery reform, but trying to be competitive will lead to far more disappointment than a draft lottery could.
The Pelicans have two young studs in Derik Queen and Jeremiah Fears that they could build a new direction around, while also having a plethora of veterans that are bound to hold value on the open market. Trading some of those older pieces for future assets to focus on a youth movement has never felt more obvious than now, with the current state of the Western Conference. If Joe Dumars is committed to bringing an NBA Championship to the Big Easy, his next step is obvious: hit the reset button and rebuild.
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