When looking at the New Orleans Pelicans roster heading into the 2026-27 season, the obvious weakness with this team is their center play and perimeter shooting. However, fans should have some faith that a combination of Karlo Matkovic and Yves Missi can be good enough at the five and that Jamahl Mosley’s five-out offense can help improve spacing. One of my newer concerns comes at the backup point guard spot.
The consensus on New Orleans' lead guard play is that Dejounte Murray will start the season as the starter, with Jeremiah Fears backing him up. Behind Fears is Jordan Poole, who had a down season in 2025-26, but has shown in the past he is a very capable shot creator and scorer.
The issue with the Pelicans guard depth isn’t talent—it’s fit and role. We saw last season with Poole that at times he struggled to lead an offense and do the playmaking things a true point guard needs to do. This shouldn’t have come as a major shocker, as with Golden State he operated primarily off the ball and in a scoring-guard role. But given the Pelicans' depth chart, Poole likely won’t get to play that role, which should concern fans.
There's no clear solution to this problem
Going into training camp, the Pelicans could potentially have an answer to their third-string lead guard needs in Kobe Bufkin. The former top-15 pick for the Atlanta Hawks led the Pelicans in scoring in Las Vegas at Summer League and is trying to revive his NBA career by earning a two-way spot. The issue with Bukfin is that he is a tweener guard. He doesn’t have the traditional playmaking instincts, but also isn’t a good enough three-point shooter to fit into an off-ball role.
Signing him to be their third point guard and letting Poole slot into an off-ball role would, on paper makes sense, but leaves the team with a worse version of what JP can do on the ball.
Obviously, having Fears and Murray as your two guards is very strong, and most teams only play two lead guards on a nightly basis, which I fully understand. However, injuries and players being banged up is always something that needs to be factored in.
In no way am I wishing injuries on either Fears or Murray. It’s unrealistic to see Fears play 82 games for a second straight season. And given what Murray has gone through his last two seasons and even early in his career, he’s going to miss games for rest or the odd nagging injury. That’s where this team is going to really miss Jose Alvarado. While he did depart at last season's deadline, the impact of his loss didn’t really set in and will be very prevalent this season.
He was the perfect third guard because of his energy, his ability to push the ball up the floor, and get the team into a set. They don’t have that outside of Fears and Murray, and at some point in 2026-27 that flaw will come to the surface.
If you were looking for another reason to be skeptical of the Pelicans heading into next season, I unfortunately just handed it to you.
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