In part four of my series, where I give goals for the entire New Orleans Pelicans roster ahead of the 2025-26 season, I'll be talking about newly acquired wing Saddiq Bey.
After spending last season watching from the sidelines for the Washington Wizards while nursing an ACL tear, Bey is expected to be fully healthy and ready to go on opening night. Throughout his entire 4-year NBA career, he has played a winning brand of basketball.
Although he's only made the playoffs once in his career at 6'7" with a solid 215-pound frame, Bey has the combination of fast feet and size to be a high-impact defender come playoff time. On top of that, he is a career 35.2% three-point shooter who can get hot in an instant. The combination of size, defense, and shooting has made him a high-impact three-and-d wing throughout his career.
With the lack of wing depth behind Herb Jones and Trey Murphy, I believe Bey is going to be tasked with a big role off the bench this season. I'm excited to see how he can improve the Pelicans' shooting and defense, as these were the areas where New Orleans ranked in the bottom five last season.
He shouldn't have to make any crazy improvements or changes to his game to have a successful year for the Pelicans. All I really think Bey needs to do is be more locked in defensively and slightly improve his offensive consistency.
Be efficient and be a point of attack defender for the second unit
All offseason, I've been preaching that the Pelicans need a point of attack defender, which is the reason why I was so in love with the Pelicans acquiring Olivier-Maxence Prosper from the Mavericks. However, we all know he ended up signing with the Memphis Grizzlies.
So with New Orleans needing someone in their second unit that can defend from the point attack, Bey may have to step into that role. He's always been a good defender and someone who can help string together stops, so I think being more assertive and aggressive defensively should be a goal for him this season.
On the offensive end, we've seen Bey's efficiency fluctuate on a year-by-year basis. Some years, he shot above 40% from the field; others, he shot below. Same for his three-point shooting, we've seen him shoot both above and below 35% from three. If he is going to be as effective as I think he can be for the Pelicans, he must be shooting at least 43% from the field and 35% from three.
Over his career, Bey has shot an average of 11.5 times per game, a number that will likely decrease as he transitions from an everyday starter to a bench player. This should help him remain more efficient and more effective offensively for the New Orleans Pelicans.