thelesterlee
The entire New Orleans Pelicans organization seemed shocked that the 2024-25 NBA season began.
They came into opening night without a real center on the roster.
Brandon Ingram was on the trade block all summer and the organization thought to just bring him back after going door-to-door and begging anyone to take him off their books. The other day, I saw Brandon Ingram free on Facebook Marketplace.
Oh, and every player is injured.
- Zion Williamson: left hamstring strain
- Jose Alvarado: left hamstring strain
- Jordan Hawkins: back
- Herb Jones: shoulder
- Dejounte Murray: hand
- Brandon Ingram: bilateral ankle sprains
- CJ McCollum: thigh
- Trey Murphy: hamstring
That looks bad, ya know, losing the 8 most important players on your team—especially when your next game is in Cleveland against a Cavaliers team that doesn’t lose basketball games.
But thankfully, New Orleans has a backup plan.
Free agent guard Elfrid Payton has agreed to a deal with the New Orleans Pelicans, his agent Darrell Comer of Tandem told ESPN. Payton attended training camp with the Pelicans and now rejoins the team amid a wave of injuries. pic.twitter.com/REROvFohX2
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) November 20, 2024
They broke the glass in case of emergency and busted out Elfrid Payton—who hasn’t played in the NBA in 2 years.
New Orleans still go dogwalked as Cleveland beat them 128-100 but the Pelicans wouldn’t have been able to even get to 100 points if it weren’t for Elfrid Payton. Really.
Here’s what Elfrid Payton did in his return to the big leagues:
- 22 minutes
- 11 points
- 5-for-8 shooting
- 5 rebounds
- 8 assists
Still didn’t make any threes. Glad he learned so much from his (forced) time away from the NBA.
The Pelicans 2024-25 season is over.
They built a team around injury-prone stars and between Zion and Ingram, neither have shown the ability to be healthy enough to have any real playoff success.
This project was doomed from the start.
But Pels fans should still have a reason to pay for tickets.
With Elfrid Payton back on the team, why not bring back some former guys to fill some holes and let fans mentally and emotionally travel back to a time when the sky was the limit and a bunch of random guys were running around Anthony Davis?
So here are 5 former players the Pelicans should bring back:
1. Emeka Okafor
Emeka Okafor was one of the greatest college basketball players of all time. 2004 Player of the Year and Champion with UConn. Post-game like a young Kareem.
Then he had 9 irrelevant NBA seasons, disappeared into the night, and returned at age 35 for the 2017-18 New Orleans Pelicans squad that swept the Damian Lillard Trailblazers in the first round and lost in 5 games to the Golden State Warriors in the Semis.
Emeka Okafor played 4 postseason minutes against the Blazers. He missed a shot and turned the ball over.
We cannot let this man peak in college. Give Emeka Okafor one last shot to prove he can be a difference-maker in the NBA while Zion and the boys recover in the ICU.
2. Nikola Mirotić
Halfway through Okafor’s old man year in New Orleans, Yugoslavian bucket-getter, Nikola Mirotic joined the ball club after Bobby Portis punched his jaw onto the hardwood.
The Bulls traded Mirotic because there’s no GM in the league who would go up to Bobby Portis when he’s in punch-and-kick mode, and tell him that he’s being traded.
3. Tyreke Evans
Tyreke Evans is one of the most talented ball-handlers I’ve ever watched and the NBA kicked him out of the league 3 years for failing some drug tests.
Tyreke would still on an NBA roster right now if he spent his Friday nights beating up his pregnant girlfriend instead of checking out what the local cocaine smells like.
In the 2015-16 season, Evans averaged 15 points with 5.2 rebounds and 6.6 assists.
You give him the modern-day usage rate these guards get and Tyreke is averaging a triple-double at 9pm and popping molly at midnight.
4. Jimmer Fredette
Jimmer has one of the biggest what-if careers in NBA history.
One of the greatest shooters off the dribble force to come into an NBA that only allowed him to stand in the corner to catch and shoot.
My boy Jimmer was one-dribble pulling up from the logo, got drafted to the Kings, and had to stand stationary at the 3-point line, hand-in-hand with his defender, while Boogie Cousins barked at referees.
5. JJ Redick
I like Willie Green.
He has maximized a roster that hasn’t been overflowing with talent.
He’s found a way to utilize Jose Alvarado—who, in any other reality, is the most annoying guy to play against at the local gym between his Amazon delivery shifts.
But JJ Redick has the Los Angeles Lakers looking like potential NBA Champions.
As of right now, the Lakers are on a 6-game winning streak thanks to JJ’s genius idea of “Hey, Anthony Davis was the best player in the world when they won their last championship. Let’s just, uh, do that shit again”.
Somehow, somehow, it’s working.
I’d love to see JJ Redick working with Antonio Reeves who scored 34 points against the Cavs on Wednesday and is objectively better than D’Angelo Russell has been.
Antonio Reeves wont quit on the play and gets his own rebound and nails the put-back pic.twitter.com/m6IZ68Wdkd
— Pelicans Film Room (@PelsFilmRoom) November 21, 2024
Actually, don’t bring JJ to New Orleans. Just send Antonio Reeves to Los Angeles.
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