Do the Pelicans take a gap year?

The Western Conference playoff race is already running away and hiding for New Orleans. Sunday’s loss dropped the Pelicans to 5-20, and they just learned Brandon Ingram will be out for an extended period after suffering a high-grade ankle sprain Saturday against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Zion Williamson hasn’t played a game since Nov. 6, and the rest of the roster has been so battered that two-way Brandon Boston took over the team lead in minutes on Sunday.

In a conference where it will likely require 44 or so wins (and thus 38 or fewer losses) just to make the Play-In Tournament, the Pelicans have already used more than half their season quota. So what is there to do besides tell Williamson to take all the time he needs and make some lottery lemonade?

New Orleans isn’t going to burn all its ships because it’s still trying to win next year and several players are on long-term deals, but adding a high pick from a loaded draft sounds like a decent way to salvage a lost season. The Pels could aid their pursuit of that by listening to offers on CJ McCollum, whose weighty $33 million salary blocks other moves, and seeing if the oft-discussed Ingram has any fans at the trade deadline.

Rookie of the Week: Yves Missi, C, New Orleans

(This section won’t necessarily profile the best rookie of the week. Just the one I’ve been watching.)

While virtually everything that could go wrong has so far for the Pelicans, one thing that definitely went right for them this season was selecting Yves Missi with the 21st pick in the 2024 draft. The 20-year-old Cameroonian big man has ended up starting 17 games as a raft of injuries have wiped out other options, but he’s been good enough in the role that dislodging him won’t be easy.

The 6-foot-11 Missi doesn’t have an overpowering frame at 235 pounds, but he has a good handle for a player of his size and explosive leaping ability to take advantage of the moments when he gets a step. Missi has already put together an array of highlight blocks and dunks, the best of which was probably his posterization of Indiana’s Myles Turner on Nov. 1:

Missi has 34 dunks, accounting for nearly half his made field goals, and he’s shooting 77 percent inside the restricted area. Here, for instance, he shows a bit of finishing craft on a non-dunk by double-pumping past two defenders on his way to a lay-in.

Alas, he’s only at 23.5 percent from anything beyond there and is a 64.5 percent career foul shooter. Even with a plus handle that enables him to get to the rim on his own steam at times, Missi likely needs to show some kind of shooting range to be something beyond a rim-running specialist at the offensive end. Because of his failures to finish anything not directly at the rim, his overall 57.7 true shooting percentage isn’t good enough for a player of this ilk.

Defensively, there’s a similar story to be told of raw ability needing further refinement. The best news is his 17.3 percent rebound rate, a marked improvement from his 2023-24 college season at Baylor and a good sign that his frame can handle NBA physicality. Another sign is that he’s not piling up fouls, even as a young, skinny rookie big in an unforgiving league (just 3.6 personals per 100 possessions thus far).

Missi still has a way to go as a switch defender, but his mobility suggests he may eventually be up for the job. He also has managed to post a respectable block rate (4.6 percent), and that should only increase as he develops his timing and gets more game reps.

The best stat for Missi, however, may be this one: $3.3 million, his salary for next season. Having a starting center on that number is a huge boon for a team that annually tries to fight the luxury-tax line to a draw. If Missi can hold down the job at that price for the last three years of his rookie contract, the Pelicans’ shipwreck of a season won’t have been for naught.