The Pelicans spent both of their lottery picks in the 2025 NBA Draft on some highly skilled offensive players who have a ton of work to do to become NBA-level defenders. The selections of Jeremiah Fears at No. 7 and Derik Queen at No. 13 makes Herbert Jones' role on this team next season that much more important.
Jones is one of the NBA's best defenders, standing at 6'8" with a 7'0" wingspan, he possesses the length and foot speed to guard virtually every position. Jones made the NBA's All-Defensive Team in the 2023-24 season at just 25 years old. His season was cut short due to a shoulder injury, as he only appeared in 20 games.
At 6'2.5" and 180 pounds, Jeremiah Fears is undersized and thin-framed for the NBA. After the Pelicans selected him at No. 7, it became clear that defense would be a challenge in his rookie season. Fears was already a poor defender at the college level, now, imagine how someone of his size will translate to guarding NBA talent.
The outlook isn’t much better when thinking about how Queen will hold up defensively. At 6'9" and nearly 250 pounds, he doesn't have the foot speed to keep up with forwards at the NBA level, and lacks the size and discipline to compete defensively with centers. In Fears' case, not being a great defender isn't uncommon for a rookie guard, but it is rare for a rookie center.
Herb Jones is going to have his work cut out for him
Without Jones for most of last season, the Pelicans had the NBA's second-worst defense. The two seasons prior, though, when Jones appeared in 66 and then 76 games, they had the NBA's sixth-best defense. This isn't all because of Jones, but the Pelicans haven’t had much defensive talent outside of him
Jones is the type of defensive player who acts like a magic eraser, cleaning up all of his teammates' defensive mistakes. If it was already challenging covering for players like Zion Williamson, Jordan Hawkins and CJ McCollum, things are only getting harder in 2025-26. He'll now have to make recoveries for Derik Queen, Jeremiah Fears, and Jordan Poole.
With Joe Dumars steering the Pelicans toward a more offense-heavy identity this summer, Jones' job has only gotten harder. That being said, the addition of Kevon Looney will help anchor the paint and provide some much-needed support.
Herb Jones enters next season as the Pelicans’ X-factor. As far as he can carry their defense is as far as the team will go.