Frank Jackson is at the crossroads of his New Orleans Pelicans career. He played adequately last season, but that is no longer the standard. Competition for those 19.2 minutes per game Jackson averaged is thick with incoming talent.
Lonzo Ball and Josh Hart will eat into most of the minutes abandoned by Elfrid Payton. Almost half of Jackson’s minutes (500) came after the All-Star Break (669). Those 17 games were the tail end of a lost season.
Jackson even admitted so in his exit interview with NBA.com. Still, for good stretches, Jackson looked the part of a lead guard on a reserve unit.