The 2025–26 season didn’t go according to plan for the New Orleans Pelicans. Despite finishing one seed below the play-in tournament at 11th in the West, the team went 26–56.
One of the biggest factors in the disappointing season was Jordan Poole's lackluster production, which ultimately contributed to head coach Willie Green's firing just 12 games into the year. Looking back at the 2025 offseason, Poole was viewed as the Pelicans' big-time get. Coming off a career year in Washington that saw him averaging 20.5 points per game and shooting 37.8 percent from three on over nine attempts per game, expectations were high.
However, very early on, Pelicans fans saw that the Poole era in the Big Easy would be filled with more downs than ups. After just three starts, JP3 was moved to a bench role in favor of rookie guard Jeremiah Fears, and it only got worse from there.
Now, with Joe Dumars and Troy Weaver approaching a year since acquiring the former championship-winning guard, it appears the Poole experiment may come to an end after one season.
The Jordan Poole era appears to be over
Poole is set to make just over $34 million next season, and that price tag is steep for a player projected as the Pelicans’ third-string guard. With Dejounte Murray back healthy and Jeremiah Fears really coming into his own down the stretch of the regular season, the need for Poole isn't the same. In his 39 games played for the Pelicans this past regular season, he averaged 13.4 points and 3.1 assists per game, while shooting an abysmal 37.2 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from three.
When he was first acquired, the thought process was that he could hold things down as a lead guard while Murray rehabbed his Achilles injury, and also give New Orleans a shot creator and floor spacer. None of those things came true, and now his future looks murky.
With the front office appearing to set its sights on being a competitive playoff-level team next season, New Orleans has some major needs to address.
All season, it was clear the Pelicans were both weak at the center spot and lacked floor spacing. With Poole not checking either of those boxes and having a massive cap hit, he's become an expendable piece for the Pels as they enter the offseason. Whether it's a salary dump, packaging him with other assets to bring an upgrade, or flat-out waiving and stretching his contract, fans shouldn’t be shocked if he isn’t in the Crescent City next season.
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