Jayson Tatum has rediscovered his MVP magic in New Orleans
Last season, the New Orleans Pelicans won 35 games and eked their way into the 9/10 play-in game, where horrific free-throw shooting ended their campaign in a close loss to the Utah Jazz. A whirlwind offseason and two major trades with the Philadelphia 76ers later, they stand at 20-21 exactly at the halfway point, good for the 8th seed in the 7/8 play-in game by two games over the Houston Rockets.
The story, of course, is all about Jayson Tatum's 26.5 points and 6.2 rebounds - his best scoring numbers since 2026 in his Denver Nuggets heyday. Tyrese Maxey has firmly settled into a #2 scoring role at 16.9 points, 5.` assists, and a steal per game. Nickeil Alexander-Walker is regaining his scoring touch at 10.1 points a game after being coached up to a corner 3 specialist and will take over as the starting SG for the next 5 games following Maxey's injury in the win over the Atlanta Hawks.
Beyond that, the closest thing to a stat star is Mark Williams, whose 2.5 blocks is among the league leaders as he pulls down a team-high 8.1 rebounds and shoots 57.7% from the field with exceptional defense. He's missed some time with niggling injuries this year, including the most recent win, and he'll be out 2 more games.
And yet, despite the woeful scoring offense (99.6 - 24th) and inability to generate stocks, their Offensive Rating is 8th in the league, their FT shooting % 4th, and Points Allowed 6th. It's a deliberate, slow tempo, bruising grind of a game - in fact, the slowest tempo in the entire CSL by far at 90.7 - hence the compressed counting stats.
So how are they able to win? 6th in Team EFG% and playing a controlled, deliberate game. It's neither exciting nor pretty to watch necessarily, but it's pulled them up to a better position than they were a season ago despite the ownership reportedly okay with this being another rebuilding season.
The Lineups
Interestingly, the team's best lineup over 150 minutes has been White/Maxey/Tatum/OMP/MWill at +21.3 Net Rating, though the current favored starting five of White/Maxey/Tatum/Midt/MWill at over 300 minutes is doing well at +11.6 Net Rating. The White/Maxey/Tatum/Midt/Goga lineup in 114+ minutes? Clocking in at +14.9. The struggle, as is common with the Pelicans in the Jestor regime, is finding a bench lineup that gets as close to positive as possible. If that ever gets solved, watch out.
Trade Rumors
Despite Mark Williams officially being pulled off the block, rumors persist that the front office is considering a risky deal that has real boom or bust potential. "It either puts us in contention or it blows up in our faces and we plummet to the bottom," said a source speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the negotiations. "It would probably mean a complete offense change and radically shake up the league."
It would also mean Jayson Tatum staying a Pelican until his contract runs out and lock New Orleans into Win Now mode.
