{"id":600944,"date":"2026-02-13T14:07:22","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T14:07:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/600944\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T14:07:22","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T14:07:22","slug":"a-third-year-without-representation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/600944\/","title":{"rendered":"A Third Year Without Representation"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New Orleans Pelicans will be pretty quiet during the main events of the 2026 NBA All-Star Weekend. All-Star Sunday features zero Pelicans players. This marks the third straight All-Star game to be Pelican-free<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The game this year will not be a traditional “east versus west” matchup, but rather a USA versus the World game<\/a>. No matter how the teams are being split, the final rosters are completely void of Pelicans<\/a>. Which includes the last Pelican All-Star, Zion Williamson.<\/p>\n

When Zion was picked #1 overall, there was an expectation that he was going to be a perennial All-Star. Watching his college highlights, you thought he was a complete can’t miss blue chip prospect. But 6 years into his career…and he’s made just 2 All-Star Games. He won’t be adding to that total this year either.<\/p>\n

Saturday Night Showcase Completely Empty<\/p>\n

Saturday night will also feature a glaring lack of representation. There will be absolutely no Pelicans competing in the 3-Point Contest. The Slam Dunk Contest is also devoid of any current New Orleans high-flyers…which is another huge miss for Zion.<\/p>\n

Photo by Jonathan Bachman\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Photo by Jonathan Bachman\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Zion was supposed to be a high-flying, powerful dunk machine. But his absence from the Slam Dunk contest during his entire career speaks volumes.<\/p>\n

Fans looking for familiar faces must settle for watching former Pelican Jaxson Hayes dunk <\/a>for the Lakers in the Slam Dunk Contest. They can also catch former Pelican Brandon Ingram on the All-Star roster<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Photo by Jonathan Bachman\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Photo by Jonathan Bachman\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

It is a tough pill to swallow. The players who were let go from the franchise having All-Star accolades, while the players you kept to build around haven’t kept up.<\/p>\n

Rookies Bring The Heat Friday<\/p>\n

The only bright spot happens Friday night during the Rising Stars Challenge. Rookie guard Jeremiah Fears will hit the floor representing Team Melo<\/a>. Fears has shown flashes of brilliance this season, making his inclusion a well-deserved honor. The rookie continues proving his worth.<\/p>\n

Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Fears will not be the only rookie representing the squad. Center Derik Queen also earned a spot in the showcase to suit up for Team Vince Carter<\/a>. This could set up an interesting meeting on the court if things go a certain way.<\/p>\n

Photo by Harry How\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Photo by Harry How\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Hopefully these two rookies can bring some hardware back home. Because right now, they are the only hope for a weekend victory<\/a> for the Pelicans.<\/p>\n

LSU Athletes Drafted #1 Overall Across All Sports Drafts<\/p>\n

LSU Athletics have had players drafted #1 overall in all 4 of the major sports drafts in America. Here are those top picks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New Orleans Pelicans will be pretty quiet during the main events of the 2026 NBA All-Star Weekend.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":600945,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3796],"tags":[7,9876,6,478,470,4073,4072,67,675,24495,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-600944","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-national-news","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-new-orleans","12":"tag-new-orleans-pelicans","13":"tag-neworleans","14":"tag-neworleanspelicans","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-pelicans","17":"tag-shreveport-news","18":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600944","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=600944"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600944\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/600945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=600944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=600944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=600944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}