Coming into the 2025-26 season, the New Orleans Pelicans front office faced significant criticism and questions about its approach to the 2025 NBA Draft.
As the organization gave away their first-round pick the following season and selected Jeremiah Fears and Derik Queen, two prospects who were non-shooters and viewed as projects. And while the team itself hasn’t gotten off to the start it hoped for, sitting at 3–19 through 22 games, one thing has become undeniable: Jeremiah Fears is legit.
To start his rookie campaign, the former Oklahoma guard has averaged 15.7 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 2.8 assists while shooting 44.9 percent from the field and 36.4 percent from three.
The transition for rookie point guards from college to the NBA is typically challenging, and one that leads to most struggling immensely in the early parts of their first year. It is especially hard for smaller guards like Fears, who is listed at just 6'3", 190 pounds, to transition as the size difference from the NBA to college is drastic.
Trae Young, De'Aaron Fox, and Darius Garland all struggled early in their rookie seasons. All three of them are living proof that being tasked with running an offense and facing the NBA's best defenders typically takes a massive adjustment period.
But for Fears, it's been mostly seamless. Sure, he's had a few hiccups, but I'd say in 17 of his 21 games played, he's looked outstanding. The only down performances I can think of were against the Celtics, Thunder, Suns, and, most recently, the Warriors.
The reason for this easy transition has been his shooting.
Coming out of college, Fears was a guard who used his lightning-quick first step as a crutch to beat defenders off the dribble and get to the rim. And this is something he continues to use at the NBA level to beat defenders, but now it's paired with his improved three-point shooting, making him someone opposing defenses have to respect everywhere.
Fears shot 28.4 percent from three in his lone season at Oklahoma, making his ability to create from beyond the arc one of the biggest red flags draft experts had about him. So, to see Fears entirely flip the narrative that he is a non-shooter has been awesome, and it's proving that he is way ahead of schedule.
Fear's three-point shooting has jumped up nearly 8 percent from his time at Oklahoma to now with the Pelicans, and that is on almost the same amount of attempts per game. In college, he took 3.9 three per game, and so far in his rookie year, he's taking an average of 3.5 three per game.
While the Pelicans haven't had the team success fans may have hoped for, they have found their point guard for the future in Jeremiah Fears. While he is still far from a finished product, his overwhelming talent and work ethic suggest he's on the path to greatness.