The New Orleans Pelicans schedule is here, and outside of their season-opening showdown with the Indiana Pacers, fans should be circling the November 2 matchup against the Memphis Grizzlies. After failing to reach the 30-win mark in 2025-26, the front office opted to stand pat this offseason and bring back 14 of 15 roster players. This wasn’t a popular decision, as many fans believed that even if drastic change wasn’t needed, some form of a shake-up was warranted after how disappointing the past two seasons have been.
This has left many fans uttering the same sentiment: a lack of change is fine, but that lack of change means they want results.
Over the last two seasons, the Pelicans were exactly where I and many others are projecting Memphis to be this season. In the offseason, Memphis did the opposite of New Orleans, fully committing to a rebuild and trading the final piece of their last era, Ja Morant, to Portland. They drafted Cam Boozer at No. 3, brought in Isaiah Stewart and Quinten Post to shore up their frontcourt, while retaining their young core for another year.
The Grizzlies are a team full of potential with long-term upside, but this season they should finish in the bottom three of the Western Conference. For New Orleans, a bottom-three finish would be disastrous, which is what can make their first game against the division rival Grizzlies so telling.
Dominating the Grizzlies could set the tone for the Pelicans’ season
If the Pelicans walk into this matchup and don’t laugh the Grizzlies out of the building, there is a serious problem. The Pelicans' first game against Memphis is an opportunity to establish where they stand in the competitive Western Conference. A blowout would tell everyone that this is a team that deserves respect and can make a postseason push in 2026-27. A tight game suggests this team is back exactly where they were last season, one of those teams too good to get a high pick and too bad to make a real push for the playoffs.
You’re probably asking: What does a loss mean? It means this season is another wash, and this group once again isn’t built to be a playoff contender.
I understand that it may seem harsh to chalk up the result of one game as what defines this team’s season, but it’s reality. Good teams in the league take care of their business against teams that aren’t on their level, especially early in the season, and that’s exactly what the Grizzlies are.
You can kind of make an argument that they may have some better pieces and aren’t as bad as I’m making them out to be, and that’s fine. However, what should be a separating factor between the Pelicans and teams like the Grizzlies is that the players at the top of this roster have remained largely the same for what will be three seasons. For many other front offices, what the Pelicans haven’t accomplished with this core would be more than enough reason to tear things down, but not for Troy Weaver and Joe Dumars.
Thankfully for fans, they’ll get clarity on how smart a decision it was to run this core group back in 2026-27 seven games into the season.
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