Pelicans injury-riddled stretch couldn't have come at a worse time

The New Orleans Pelicans are currently looking up at every other team in the Western Conference, nestled in the basement as the 15th seed with a record of 4-14 through 18 games. They have a valid excuse for their poor standing so far, though, as they've dealt with more impactful injuries than anyone else in the NBA. At one point, seven of their highest-paid players were all sidelined. It's unreasonable to expect any team to win games while dealing with that level of absence.

It hasn't all been bad for the Pelicans, despite their abysmal record through the first quarter of the season. There have been some positive takeaways, like the emergence of a fringe player like Brandon Boston Jr. Plus, the cavalry will be arriving soon. Trey Murphy III has been back for a bit now following a training camp injury that cost him the first few weeks of the campaign, CJ McCollum recently made his return from an adductor strain, and Dejounte Murray should play his second game for New Orleans any day now.

Technically, there's still plenty of time for the Pelicans to make a run at the playoffs. According to the law of averages, New Orleans should expect pretty good health from their players moving forward. Unfortunately, a closer look reveals that the Pelicans may have been struck by the injury bug at the very worst possible time.

The Pelicans injuries may have already doomed their 2024-25 NBA season

There's never a good time to be missing practically the entire core of a team. With Zion Williamson, Dejounte Murray, CJ McCollum, Trey Murphy III, and Herb Jones all out for multiple weeks, it would have been impossible for the Pelicans to win games with all of those absences regardless of when they came in the season.

One would think that having them come at the very start of the year would be better than having players go down in the middle or toward the end of the campaign when those injuries could ruin momentum, spoil team chemistry, and even affect playoff runs. While that's all true, this season, the Pelicans desperately needed their guys for this opening stretch.

According to multiple sources, New Orleans has already played their easiest stretch of the season. Being in the Western Conference and belonging to the Southwest Division, the Pelicans were never going to have an easy schedule this year, as they were stuck in a gauntlet with the Dallas Mavericks, Memphis Grizzlies, Houston Rockets, and San Antonio Spurs. But, if there was going to be a soft part of the campaign, it would have been this stretch in which they've gone 4-14.

Power Rankings Guru gave the Pelicans the seventh-toughest schedule through 18 games. When viewed through that lens, it might not be so alarming that they went 4-14. However, their formula has tagged New Orleans with the second-hardest remaining schedule, behind only the Sacramento Kings. Tankathon isn't much more optimistic, giving them the fifth-worse remaining slate.

It's a good thing that Dejounte Murray and company will be back soon, because the Pelicans will need all the help they can get to finish out this season. It may already be too late.