As much discussion as there was about New Orleans as a team being forced to make major adjustments on the fly following a February blockbuster trade with Sacramento, that was essentially the case for center Alexis Ajinca all season. Perhaps no Pelicans player’s role fluctuated as much throughout the course of 2016-17, with him going from seldom-used backup early in the campaign, to a starter for 10 consecutive December games, to DNPs in 22 of 23 contests between Christmas and mid-February, to back in the rotation but with sporadic DNPs in between. Ajinca closed ’16-17 by logging 24-plus minutes in each of New Orleans’ final four games (there were only three previous games all season in which he was on the floor for at least 24:00).
2016-17 Pelicans Season Review: Alexis Ajinca
