{"id":571147,"date":"2026-01-30T17:38:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T17:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/571147\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T17:38:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T17:38:13","slug":"pelicans-big-believers-in-former-second-round-pick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/571147\/","title":{"rendered":"Pelicans &#8220;Big Believers&#8221; In Former Second Round Pick"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2026\/01\/29\/defense-leads-the-way-shorthanded-thunder-hold-off-pelicans\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">New Orleans Pelicans<\/a> are among the biggest disasters in the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2026\/01\/30\/celtics-jayson-tatum-drops-hints-nba-comeback\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NBA<\/a>, and it is not all the organization\u2019s fault. But the organization doesn\u2019t get a total pass, as it is the one that has either drafted or signed injury-prone players to huge contracts. Now it seems the Pels are finally looking to rebuild the right way, though they aren\u2019t aiming for a complete rebuild.<\/p>\n<p>Pelicans \u201cBig Believers\u201d In Former Second Round Pick, Looking To Open Roster Spot ( Via Trade) To Promote Him<\/p>\n<p>New Orleans is on pace to compile its second-worst season in franchise history and the second time to finish the season with fewer than 20 victories. The Pelicans sit at the bottom of the Western Conference standings with a 12-37 record. They are tied with Sacramento, Indiana, Washington, and Brooklyn for the worst record in the league.<\/p>\n<p>While the <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ChrisBHaynes\/status\/2009711895524303194\">Pelicans are resistant to trading<\/a> <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/willizi01.html\" target=\"_blank\">Zion Williamson<\/a>, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/joneshe01.html\" target=\"_blank\">Herbert Jones<\/a>, or <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/murphtr02\/gamelog-advanced\/2025\" target=\"_blank\">Trey Murphy III<\/a>, several other players are reportedly drawing significant interest from around the league. It appears the Pels plan to move forward with those three, along with <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/q\/queende01.html\" target=\"_blank\">Derik Queen<\/a> and <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/f\/fearsje01.html\" target=\"_blank\">Jeremiah Fears<\/a>, as the faces of the franchise. At least for the time being.<\/p>\n<p>According to <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/7006374\/2026\/01\/29\/pelicans-nba-trade-deadline-zion-dejounte-murray\/?source=emp_shared_article\" target=\"_blank\">Will Guerrerro of The Athletic<\/a>, the Pelicans brass, led by the president of basketball operations <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/executives\/dumarjo01x.html\" target=\"_blank\">Joe Dumars<\/a>, are big believers in <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/mcgowbr01.html\" target=\"_blank\">Bryce McGowens<\/a>, who is on a two-way deal, and would like to open up a roster spot for him.<\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" ng-if=\"!image.isPrivate\" title=\"Alonzo Adams\" href=\"https:\/\/www.imagn.com\/searchByPhotographerId\/Alonzo%20Adams\" class=\"ng-binding ng-scope\" target=\"_blank\">\u00a9 Alonzo Adams<\/a>, Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New Orleans Pelicans are among the biggest disasters in the NBA, and it is not all the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":571148,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3796],"tags":[7,7214,5316,2771,11053,6,478,470,4073,4072,675,1259,814],"class_list":{"0":"post-571147","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-orleans-pelicans","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-bryce-mcgowens","10":"tag-jordan-hawkins","11":"tag-jordan-poole","12":"tag-jose-alvarado","13":"tag-nba","14":"tag-new-orleans","15":"tag-new-orleans-pelicans","16":"tag-neworleans","17":"tag-neworleanspelicans","18":"tag-pelicans","19":"tag-yves-missi","20":"tag-zion-williamson"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115985272320940453","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=571147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571147\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/571148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=571147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=571147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=571147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}