The New Orleans Pelicans’ biggest Zion Williamson problem is obviously his inability to stay on the court, but that issue has made its way to the rest of their roster, too. They have built a team full of guys who can’t stay healthy, and it may come back to bite them. Zach Harper of The Athletic recently wrote about the concern level for New Orleans heading into the season, rating it a 9/10:
“The Pelicans always have massive injury concerns, Zion aside. Dejounte Murray tore his Achilles in January. Trey Murphy III and Herb Jones combined to play 73 games last season,” Harper wrote. “There are so many components to like on this roster, but I’m not sure how they go together. Willie Green has been a good coach early in his career, but it’s hard to know if he’ll continue to have the support from new management (Joe Dumars and Troy Weaver) and ownership.”
New Orleans has plenty of intriguing pieces, but none of them can manage to stay on the hardwood.
What do the Pelicans do now?
In all honesty, there’s not much the Pelicans can do. And all of the options they have available to them, they’ve tried to make the most of.
New Orleans traded CJ McCollum for Jordan Poole this summer, getting younger in the process, and they drafted two guys in the lottery: Jeremiah Fears and Derik Queen. Both have plenty of potential. They’ve done a good job of staying young while also adding talent.
But that still doesn’t solve their injury problem. Williamson still has never been able to stay on the court, and, as noted by Harper, Dejounte Murray, Trey Murphy III, and Herb Jones are getting hit by the bug as well.
Murphy and Jones, in particular, should be a huge part of what the Pelicans want to do moving forward, Williamson or no Williamson, but if they can’t stay healthy, then the organization is in a real bind.
Murphy is an elite scorer, and Jones is one of the best defenders in the NBA. Combine that with Poole and their two rookies, and the Pelicans would have a solid young core to work with. But in order for that to pan out, they would need to stay healthy.
Perhaps Murphy and Jones snap the problem this year, stay healthy, and give the Pelicans something to look forward to moving forward.
But as has come to be the case with the Peilcans every year, the injury bug never seems to stay away.