The New Orleans Pelicans suffered their ninth straight loss on Saturday against the Atlanta Hawks to fall to 2-15 for the season. It was one of the worst offensive performances of the season for the Pelicans, who are headed foranother lost season. Since they owe their first-round pick in the 2026 NBA Draft to the Hawks, there isn’t much to be hopeful about in New Orleans.

When a team disappoints in such a major way, there will obviously be a lot of blame to go around. The fans will understandably begin finger-pointing, but it’s important to make sure the criticism is directed at the right people.

Zion Williamson

So much of the success of a franchise is defined by its superstar. The Pelicans have an unreliable star who may be past his prime at the age of 25.

When Williamson is healthy, he is still a near All-Star level player. Those instances, however, have been few and far between. He still doesn’t play back-to-backs, missed ten games already, and has played over 65 games once in his career.

To make matters worse, he is not as good as he was when he first came into the league. Williamson’s athleticism and explosiveness have taken a step back, but he hasn’t been able to make up the difference with his shooting, defense, or intensity. Williamson has failed to set the tone for this team and has been a large factor in why they have been underwhelming in the first 17 games of the season.

Joe Dumars

There will ne plenty of people who will assign blame to Willie Green and James Borrego. The two coaches have not covered themselves in glory, but it’s unfair to put this on them. They were given an impossible task thanks to the ill-fitting and poor roster Joe Dumars has built.

The biggest mistake Dumars made was obviously the trade to give up the Pelicans’ unprotected first-round pick in 2026. What makes that deal so unforgivable is the fact that he built a team around two rookies drafted in lottery, but expected them to be competitive. Jeremiah Fears and Derik Queen have been amazing, but expecting to start and develop two rookies and compete for a playoff start in the stacked Western Conference was never going to happen.

Plus, he went out and added Jordan Poole and Kevon Looney. The former has missed ten straight games with injury, and the latter has already fallen out of the rotation. None of Dumars’ moves paid dividends so far, so he had to fire Green. The fact that he is in charge of the head coach search should scare Pelicans fans.

Gayle Benson

If we are arguing that the front office deserves blame for this mess, it would be unfair not to mention the ownership. Since taking over in 2018, Benson has made a series of calamitous decisions. Her allergy for spending and paying the luxury tax aside, she hired Dumars without interviewing another candidate. Dumars is not only a longtime friend of Mickey Loomis, Shamit Dua of In the NO recently reported that Dumars’ son, Jordan, has been involved in decision-making with an ambiguous role.

Under Benson, the Pelicans have long been the laughingstock of the NBA, with their reluctance to spend, invest, and adapt modern basketball principles. There is a reason the entire league was shocked when they decided to trade away their 2026 unprotected first-round pick for the 13th-overall pick in 2025. Benson recently said that she has empowered Dumars and there is not much she can do. But, when you are the owner, the buck stops with you, and she has failed at that throughout her tenure.

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