The Willie Green era has come to an end.
The New Orleans Pelicans fired their head coach on Saturday morning. Joe Dumars, executive vice president of the Pelicans, announced the decision.
Green, 44, was in his fifth season as the coach. The Pelicans are 2-10 this season, and his final game was Friday’s 118-104 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers in the Smoothie King Center.
Dumars said the decision didn’t come down to wins and losses. It was more about how the team lost. The Pelicans lost four games by at least 20 points, and three of those losses were by at least 30 points.
“I was very clear from the beginning that there was no mandate that you have to win a certain amount of games,” Dumars said. “There was no mandate that you have to make the playoffs or the play-in. We have to establish who we are going to be here in New Orleans going forward, and I just didn’t see that happening.”
A day earlier, Pelicans owner Gayle Benson said in an interview with the Times-Picayune that she was disappointed at the way the season has started.
“We need to improve immediately,” Benson said. “Our roster is built for success right now.”
But she made it clear she was leaving that decision up to Dumars, who was hired in April to run basketball operations.
“I really like Willie Green,” Benson said. “But I hired Joe Dumars to assess our basketball operation. And that’s what he is doing.”
Green was asked after a Wednesday night loss to the Portland Trail Blazers about how he is handling the scrutiny that has come with the team’s slow start.
“The main thing for me is control what I can control,” he said. “Continue to put the focus on pouring into our players, pouring into our staff. I totally understand the frustration. We are frustrated as well. We want to go out and step on the floor, and we want to compete every night. We want to compete every night and have a chance to win more games.”
That chance is now over for Green.
James Borrego, who has been an assistant under Green since 2023, will serve as interim head coach. Borrego spent three seasons as head coach of the Charlotte Hornets staring in 2018.
“We have faith in James Borrego as the interim coach,” Dumars said. “He has sat in the head coaching seat before in the NBA, so he understands the job.”
Dumars said the plan is for Borrego to coach the remaining 70 games, beginning with Sunday’s game against the Golden State Warriors at the Smoothie King Center.
The Pelicans finished 21-61 last season under Green. It was the second-worst record in an 82-game season in franchise history. The 2004-05 team finished 18-64.
Green was hired as head coach in July 2021 by David Griffin, the Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations at the time. Griffin was fired in April and replaced by Dumars.
Despite the Pel’s struggles last season, Dumars decided to bring Green back.
“I’m looking forward to going forward and working with Willie and to push us to success,” Dumars said in May. “You’ve got to set the bar. And that’s what we’re going to do.”
Dumars went on to say that Pelicans fans would be proud of the product on the floor this season.
“The style of play — resilience, toughness, playing hard, never quit — that’s what we want people to see right away,” Dumars said.
That wasn’t the case at all this season.
Green finishes with a 150-190 record. He went 23-77 in his last 100 games.
He led the Pelicans to the playoffs in his first season, the play-in tournament his second season and then the playoffs again in the 2023-24 season. Of the 340 regular-season games Green coached, Zion Williamson (his best player) played in only 134 of them.
The 49-33 record in the 2023-24 season tied for the second-most wins in franchise history.
Last season, the Pelicans were hit hard by injuries and never could recover. Because of injuries, Green used 47 different lineups a year ago.
Green is just the second coach in franchise history fired during the season. The only other one was Byron Scott, fired after a 3-6 start to the 2009-10 season.
“I have tremendous admiration and respect for Willie Green,” Benson said in a statement Saturday morning. “And I truly appreciate all he has done for our organization over the last few years. This is a tough business and these are difficult decisions. My expectation is to be a winning team that competes for championships and I remain steadfast in our commitment to building a championship-caliber organization for our players, partners and above all, our fans.”