New Orleans Pelicans

Team information

• Inaugural season: 2002
• Home arena: Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, Louisiana
• Owner: Gayle Benson
• Team colors: Navy blue, gold, red

Overview

The New Orleans Pelicans is a professional basketball team that plays in the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Western Conference. The franchise can actually trace its roots back to 1988 when the expansion Charlotte Hornets entered the NBA. The Hornets moved to New Orleans in 2002 and a new franchise took its place in Charlotte. Thanks to a sometimes confusing bit of wheeling and dealing, when New Orleans became the Pelicans in 2013, the name Hornets went back to Charlotte, as did the franchise’s early history. As a result, the Pelicans’ franchise history is considered to have begun in 2002. Since that time, New Orleans has struggled to put a consistent winner on the court. While the team won its division in 2008, it has made only seven playoff appearances since 2002. Despite this, New Orleans fans found a reason to be optimistic in 2019 when the team won the rights to draft highly touted prospect Zion Williamson. Injuries delayed Williamson’s debut until January 2020, but once on the court, the rookie began producing impressive numbers.

History

The Pelicans began life in 1988 when the Charlotte Hornets were admitted to the NBA along with the Miami Heat. The team’s original name was supposed to have been the Spirit, but when that name was met with criticism, a fan contest resulted in an overwhelming win for the Hornets. The name had significance to the North Carolina city, as during the Revolutionary War, a British commander was said to have called Charlotte a “nest of hornets.” The Hornets’ first decade in Charlotte was largely forgettable as the team struggled on the court, and team owner George Shinn feuded with the city over the building of a new arena. As the team began to turn its fortunes around in the late 1990s, Shinn was actively looking to find a new city for the franchise.

In 2002, the Hornets relocated to New Orleans, a city that last hosted an NBA team in the 1970s. That team, the Jazz, had moved to Utah in 1979. The now New Orleans Hornets spent their first two seasons in their new city in the NBA’s Eastern Conference. They made the playoffs both years before switching over to the Western Conference. In August 2005, the city of New Orleans was devastated by Hurricane Katrina, making it impossible for the Hornets to play in their home arena. The team relocated to Oklahoma City for the 2005–2006 and 2006–2007 seasons, temporarily changing its name to the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets. Prior to the move to Oklahoma City, the Hornets had selected point guard Chris Paul in the 2005 NBA Draft. When the Hornets returned home for the 2007–2008 season, Paul led the team to a franchise-best 56–26 record and its first, and only, division title.

The Hornets again made the playoffs in 2008–2009 and 2010–2011 but failed to move out of the first round both times. By this time, the franchise was in turmoil as minority ownership tried to buy the debt-ridden team from Shinn. When a prospective buyout deal fell through, the NBA stepped in and purchased the Hornets from Shinn in December 2010. As the league searched for a new owner, an unhappy Paul expressed interest in being traded. The team’s star guard was eventually shipped off in December 2011, and the Hornets finished the season tied for the third-worst record in the NBA. The one glimmer of hope that resulted was that the team’s poor record allowed it to win the 2012 NBA Draft lottery. With that top pick, New Orleans was able to select big man Anthony Davis from the University of Kentucky.

In April 2012, New Orleans businessperson Tom Benson agreed to buy the Hornets in an effort to keep the team in the city. Benson, who was also the owner of the NFL’s New Orleans Saints, wanted to rename the franchise so that it better reflected the city. He attempted to regain use of the name Jazz, but Utah refused to give up its identity. Benson also considered the names Brass and Krewe before deciding on Pelicans, a reference to the brown pelican, the state bird of Louisiana. The team also ditched the Hornets’ teal, purple, and white and replaced them with a new color scheme: navy blue, gold, and red. The new franchise logo featured a spread-winged pelican over a basketball with the words “New Orleans” emblazoned above and “Pelicans” below.

In the wake of the name change, basketball officials in Charlotte saw an opportunity to reclaim part of that city’s sports history. Since 2004, Charlotte had been home to the Bobcats, an expansion franchise that replaced the Hornets. In 2014, the two franchises negotiated a deal in which Charlotte would regain use of the name “Hornets.” In addition, New Orleans agreed to transfer the franchise’s entire history before 2002 to Charlotte, effectively eliminating fourteen years of accomplishments from the team’s record books. All franchise records that occurred from 2002 onward stayed with New Orleans; anything before that was attributed to Charlotte. Benson owned the franchise until his death in 2018. His widow, Gayle, took over ownership and vowed to keep the team as part of the New Orleans community.

New Orleans began playing as the Pelicans for the 2013–2014 season and made the playoffs in 2014–2015. While Anthony Davis began to blossom as an NBA superstar, the team was never able to completely build on his talents. New Orleans missed the playoffs in 2015–2016 and 2016–2017 before rebounding in 2017–2018. The Pelicans made the postseason as the sixth seed in the Western Conference and even upset the Portland Trailblazers in the opening round before being eliminated. However, that success was short-lived as the 2018–2019 campaign fell apart by midseason. A disgruntled Davis publically announced that he would not resign with the team and requested a trade. With the marriage between the Pelicans and their star player headed for a divorce, New Orleans finished out of the playoffs. After the season, Davis was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers.

New Orleans entered the 2019 NBA Draft lottery with just a slim 6 percent chance of winning the overall number-one pick. The prize for the top pick was Zion Williamson, a collegiate superstar with the potential to be an NBA great. However, New Orleans beat the odds and won the lottery, eventually selecting Williamson. The franchise’s expectations were dimmed somewhat before the season when Williamson underwent surgery for a knee injury. The surgery delayed his NBA debut until January 2020, but once Williamson made it out on the court, he immediately began producing. He averaged 23.6 points over his first nineteen games and became only the third rookie since 1990 to score 20 or more points in seven of his first ten games.

Notable players

While players such as Alonzo Mourning, Del Curry, Glen Rice, and Larry Johnson made significant contributions to the Charlotte Hornets from 1988–2002, their accomplishments are claimed by the current Hornets franchise. The first true star in New Orleans franchise history was Chris Paul who played with the team from 2005–2011. Paul made four All-Star appearances with the franchise and remains its career leader in assists with 4,228 and steals with 1,010. In 2007–2008 and 2008–2009, Paul led the NBA in both of those categories. Paul’s teammate for much of his tenure in New Orleans was David West who played from 2003–2011. West was a two-time All-Star who stands second on the team’s all-time scoring list with 8,690 points. He is also second all-time in rebounds with 3,853.

From 2012–2019, Anthony Davis made six All-Star games with New Orleans and holds franchise marks for points scored with 11,059, average points per game with 23.7, and rebounds with 4,906. Davis led the NBA in blocked shots three times and was the MVP of the 2017 All-Star game. Guard Jrue Holiday arrived in New Orleans in 2013 and became a solid contributor to the Pelicans on both sides of the ball. Holiday has been named to two NBA All-Defensive teams, and his 7,230 points rank fourth all-time on the franchise list as of 2020.

As the 2020s dawned, New Orleans was optimistic that Zion Williamson would grow into the next NBA superstar. Those expectations seemed realistic based on his collegiate career at Duke University where he was named National College Player of the Year in 2019. Joining Williamson on the court for the Pelicans was Brandon Ingram who was acquired from the Lakers in the Davis trade. In his first year with New Orleans, Ingram led the team in points per game average with 24.3 and made the 2020 All-Star team.

Bibliography

Curtis, Charles. “6 Mind-Blowing Facts About Zion Williamson’s First Nine NBA Games.” USA Today, 13 Feb. 2020, ftw.usatoday.com/2020/02/pelicans-zion-williamson-nba-records-stats-facts-shot-chart. Accessed 8 Apr. 2020.

Lewis, Ted. “Pelicans, Hornets Swap of Names, Record Books Can Cause Confusion.” Nola.com, 24 Nov. 2014, www.nola.com/sports/pelicans/article‗b994d7f5-abd1-596a-8ddf-b1df8796eae6.html. Accessed 7 Apr. 2020.

“New Orleans Pelicans.” Basketball Reference, 2020, www.basketball-reference.com/teams/NOH/. Accessed 7 Apr. 2020.

“New Orleans Pelicans History.” NBA Hoops Online, nbahoopsonline.com/teams/NewOrleansPelicans/Index.html. Accessed 7 Apr. 2020.

“New Orleans Pelicans Team History.” Sports Team History, 2020, sportsteamhistory.com/new-orleans-pelicans. Accessed 7 Apr. 2020.

Paterson, Seale. “Professional Basketball’s History in New Orleans.” My New Orleans, 1 Mar. 2013, www.myneworleans.com/professional-basketballs-history-in-new-orleans/. Accessed 7 Apr. 2020.

“Pelicans Nickname Has Century-Plus History in New Orleans.” NBA.com, 27 Sept. 2013, www.nba.com/pelicans/news/pelicans-nickname-has-century-plus-history-new-orleans. Accessed 7 Apr. 2020.

“Tom Benson’s Legacy Includes Preserving the NBA in New Orleans.” NBA.com, 15 Mar. 2018, www.nba.com/pelicans/news/tom-bensons-legacy-includes-preserving-nba-new-orleans. Accessed 7 Apr. 2020.