It's easy to think that the New Orleans Pelicans are having the worst season out of anyone in the NBA in 2024-25. After all, they came into the year with lofty aspirations after getting 72 games out of Zion Williamson last season and trading for All-Star point guard Dejounte Murray at the top of the summer.
Those high hopes came crashing down quickly though, as the injuries started to mount up in the early season, effectively eliminating them from playoff contention just weeks into the campaign. For months, the Pelicans had a large chunk of their core roster sidelined with injury and nothing to play for on the court.
It's hard to say that any other team has had a worse 2024-25 NBA season, but, then again, there's also the Philadelphia 76ers. Like the Pelicans, the Sixers also came into the year with extremely high hopes after signing All-NBA wing Paul George in free agency to form a new Big 3 alongside former MVP Joel Embiid and rising star Tyrese Maxey. Fast forward four months and Philly's season is in the toilet, with them currently sitting at 20-38, good for the 12th seed in the Eastern Conference. Despite their disastrous year though, the 76ers could wind up in a better position than the Pelicans if New Orleans isn't careful moving forward.
The Pelicans could learn about commitment and direction from the 76ers
After a confusing and frustrating saga regarding Joel Embiid's nagging knee issues and his potential availability, the Sixers finally did the right thing and shut him down for the remainder of the season. Embiid will likely undergo some kind of operation in hopes of alleviating his chronic pain and extending his shelf life as a dominant force in the NBA.
Thankfully, the Pelicans haven't had to deal with any kind of injuries that serious this year, although their entire season was lost to a variety of less serious ailments. Still, the New Orleans faithful can relate to Sixers fans in terms of having their team approach a star's health and availability with an infuriating lack of transparency.
Earlier this year, Williamson missed 60 days with a right hamstring strain that typically holds players out for 4-6 weeks. This diagnosis came out of nowhere after Zion was being ruled out of games with much more ambiguous tags and was being listed as day-to-day. With the way that played out and how terribly the Pelicans' season was going, there was speculation about whether New Orleans would just shut Williamson down for the season and fully commit to the tank. Some even posited that the team should have traded away some of their high-end veterans to ensure that they can lose as many games as possible to maximize their odds in the 2025 NBA Draft lottery.
Neither of those things happened and the Pelicans did continue to rack up much-needed losses, but things are starting to change. They're getting quality play up and down the roster now, with the acquisitions of Kelly Olynyk and Bruce Brown Jr. highlighting the unexpected fact that this is a pretty deep team. Trey Murphy III has fully arrived as a star in this league. Zion Williamson is quietly putting together the best season of his career. As a result, New Orleans has won three costly games in a row and risen out of the bottom of the league standings, losing valuable positioning in the final third of the season.
At the time of writing, the Pelicans are just 4.5 games behind the Sixers for the sixth-worst record in the league. They recently passed both the Utah Jazz and the Charlotte Hornets to climb out of the bottom three, where the odds are flat for the top-four picks in the draft, and the gap is widening.
There's still plenty of time for New Orleans to lose games, but this recent win streak might prove to be disastrous for them if they miss out on a top prospect due to the lottery. If they end up passing the Sixers or if Zion or another core player ends up getting injured in these final meaningless games of the season, they'll regret not taking Philadelphia's path and shutting down their most important pieces to both protect their health for the future and maximize their chances at landing Cooper Flagg.