The New Orleans Pelicans have been a difficult team to figure out in this 2024-25 NBA season. Take it from me, someone who's been tasked with following this squad, watching them play, analyzing them, and putting my insights into written word to share with fans. At the start of the year, I thought I'd be closely monitoring a playoff-bound squad that I could dissect and nitpick to find flaws and areas of improvement.
Fast forward four months and the Pelicans are 15-43 and grappling to get back to the bottom of the league standings in order to maximize their odds in the draft lottery at the end of the season. For months, we saw New Orleans parade out lineups that had no chance to be a part of this franchise's future in games that they were trying to lose, all the while multiple members of their core were on the sidelines with injury.
The Pelicans have finally started to play some meaningful basketball and have even strung together a few wins — although that might be counterproductive in the grand scheme of things. New Orleans might be putting together some relevant film now, but it was clear that their season was lost months ago. Look no further than FanSided's own NBA99 player rankings to see how far the Pelicans have fallen out of the public eye, with Zion Williamson's placement a perfect indicator of the frustrating season and past half-decade that this team has endured.
Zion Williamson checks in at no. 43 on FanSided's NBA99
The Pelicans may be having by far their worst season in recent memory, but Zion Williamson is quietly putting together the best campaign of his career. After a slow start to the year, he's now up to 24.3 points, 7.5 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 1.3 steals, and 1.0 blocks per game while shooting 56 percent from the field.
He's done so while working through multiple serious injuries and playing with a minutes restriction, leading him to average just over 28 minutes per outing this year. His per-36 stats this season have been absolutely insane, a glimpse into what he could have done with a full campaign worth of meaningful games.
Despite his otherworldly numbers, the thinktank behind the NBA99 could only give him a ranking of 43. Here's what FanSided's Chris Kline had to say:
"He’s not always the most engaged defender. The 3-point shot remains more of a fantasy than reality. And yeah, it’s hard to express confidence in Williamson’s uniquely compact 6-foot-6, 284-pound frame holding up over time. Players tend to get more injury-prone over time, not less. Williamson’s game is predicated on planting and exploding off of those exceedingly fragile knees. We’ve never seen a player built like Zion who moves like Zion, but that might be what keeps him from greatness in the end."
ZIon's entire career has come with an asterisk, one that adds a seemingly necessary qualifier summarizing his concerning injury history and proclivity for missing games. Anything and everything written that disparages or lauds Williamson has to include the disclaimer that things would be different if he were able to stay healthy.
It seems the entire NBA world has grown tired of talking about that asterisk, including the Pelicans. Earlier this year, reports came out that indicated that New Orleans was seriously considering cutting bait on the Zion experiment after they lost yet another season to injury. With Trey Murphy III's ascension into a legitimate star and the Pelicans likely to get a high draft pick in a year with a loaded, top-heavy class, Zion's time as the face of the franchise might be coming to an end. He can put up godly numbers all he wants, but until he can string together multiple healthy seasons, that asterisk will continue to haunt him.