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The New Orleans Pelicans are firing head coach Willie Inexperienced after a 2-10 begin to the 2025-26 season, the crew introduced Saturday. Inexperienced, initially employed after a robust stint as an assistant underneath Monty Williams with the Phoenix Suns in 2021, was let go early within the fifth season of his tenure in New Orleans after a disappointing begin that included an NBA-record three 30-point losses of their first six video games.
Affiliate head coach James Borrego has been named interim head coach.
“After cautious analysis, we’ve made the troublesome determination to make a change at head coach,” government vice chairman of basketball operations Joe Dumars stated in a press release. “I’ve the utmost respect for Willie Inexperienced, and I am sincerely appreciative of his contributions to the Pelicans group and the New Orleans neighborhood. We want him and his household all the most effective sooner or later.”
Inexperienced’s time with the Pelicans started with a modicum of promise. He took over the crew simply two seasons into the promising profession of Zion Williamson. New Orleans was, at the moment, nonetheless loaded with draft capital from the Anthony Davis and Jrue Vacation trades. They nonetheless had a wealth of younger expertise led by Williamson and Brandon Ingram, and a stellar 2021 draft class that includes Trey Murphy, Herb Jones and Jose Alvarado solely raised expectations.
Willie Inexperienced was a symptom of a lot deeper issues for the Pelicans and a brand new coach most likely cannot remedy them
Sam Quinn
Nonetheless, these gifted younger gamers all struggled to remain wholesome for a New Orleans crew that would by no means discover a constant lineup. Throughout the one stretch by which the Pelicans might largely muster the identical beginning lineup, between early December of 2023 once they bought C.J. McCollum again from an damage and March of 2024 once they misplaced Ingram to a different one, they went 31-16 and seemed like an actual Western Convention sleeper.
Ingram’s damage slowed the Pelicans down after which Williamson suffered his personal within the Play-In Event afterward. The Pelicans have not been aggressive since, getting swept out of the playoffs by the Thunder quickly after earlier than ending 21-61 throughout an injury-riddled 2024-25 season. On the finish of that season, David Griffin, the overall supervisor who employed Inexperienced, was fired and changed by Joe Dumars. Moderately than bringing in his personal coach instantly, Dumars allowed Inexperienced to begin and season and try to show that he was the person for the job long-term.
In the end, he could not achieve this. The Pelicans misplaced their first six video games by 107 factors. Maybe extra distressing for the crew’s long-term outlook has been Inexperienced’s reluctance to make use of rookie Derik Queen in significant minutes. Apart from a single, 34-minute outing towards the Spurs that got here with no different large males in addition to Williamson obtainable, Queen has largely performed between 10 and 20 minutes per sport. Contemplating the Pelicans gave away unprotected management of their 2026 first-round decide to get him, the entrance workplace certainly desires to see extra of him this season.
Over the summer time, the New York Knicks tried to poach Borrego away to function the highest assistant to their new head coach, Mike Brown. The Pelicans elected to not give the Knicks permission to interview him. Now, the previous Charlotte Hornets coach steps in because the interim selection for the Pelicans.
Borrego within the short-term and whoever has the job within the long-term have their work lower out for them. The Pelicans have been in New Orleans since 2003 and have received solely two playoff collection regardless of drafting three celebrity abilities in Chris Paul, Anthony Davis, and Williamson, all of whom have been on the vast majority of their rosters on this span. The roster, between Williamson’s diminished manufacturing, restricted taking pictures, an inexperienced frontcourt and the entire cash tied up within the at present injured Dejounte Murray, wants critical upgrades if it’s going to be aggressive within the close to time period. Changing Inexperienced might be simply the beginning of what’s prone to be an extended and painful reboot in New Orleans.
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