On its surface, falling short of the postseason two years after moving one of the five best NBA players in the NBA is forgivable, even predictable.
The Pelicans didn’t face a shortage of challenges extending beyond the on-court play though.
In 2019-20, the Pelicans were a top-10 team (net rating) the 36 games that preceded the Covid-19 stoppage of play. They had overwhelming odds of reaching the playoffs, according to Five Thirty-Eight. Zion Williamson’s family emergency tilted the odds before bubble play, and the team imploded from there, cementing Alvin Gentry’s fate. Had Zion been at full health, and New Orleans squeezed into the play-in and upended the Blazers, do we see the former head coach at the helm in 2020-21?