New Orleans Pelicans are January’s biggest losers in the NBA after a 3-13 record

What is going on in the Pelicans camp? Just before the New Years, they were the talk of the town, even being considered one of the most pleasant surprises of the season so far, standing in second place of the Western Conference. Just this past month, they’ve lost a total of 13 games. 

Before 2023 started, New Orleans had a 23-13 record and were the NBA’s third-best net rating, even Willie Green was selected Coach of the Month after winning ten times in December. However, the Pelicans have tumbled into one rough patch after the next ever since.

The Louisiana side has lost now nine times in a row, even having lost to teams much lower in the standings like the Orlando Magic (123-110) and the Washington Wizards (113-103). On their last time out they were defeated in Denver against the Nuggets. Serbian Nikola Jokić was on fire as usual, scoring 25 points, winning 11 rebounds and handing out 10 assists.

On the other side, CJ McCollum was the Pelican’s best player but still couldn’t manage to keep his team from losing by a point. Take a look at the game’s highlights in the video below:

The last time they tasted victory was on January, 13th against none other than the worst team in the league at the moment, the Detroit Pistons. That night, Jonas Valančiūnas took care of business adding a 33-point game to his record.

What could be the cause of such a bipolar couple of months? One thing is for sure, the Louisiana side have been plagued with injuries, but the question isn’t how many, it’s about who’s wounded. In this case it’s bad news, as stars Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram have been out for quite a while now.  The pair have only combined three appearances out of 15 this past month.

Although this might help explain their total collapse in their offensive stats, the Pelicans have also managed a shameful 109.4 points per 100 possessions this month, the league’s third-worst mark. One good news for them is that the Western Conference is so stacked up with mediocre records, they’ve only fallen to the No.8 position in the standings.

Some of our recommended sport betting sites have dropped New Orleans chances of winning the NBA title significantly, as just a month ago they possessed the 6th best odds. Today, sites like JazzSports consider the Pelicans to have the 13th best probability in the league to crown themselves as champions this campaign.

Three All-Star selections for the Pelicans this year

If we were to find the good news in all of this mess, it would have to be their latest All-Star player selections from the New Orleans roster. Both Jose Alvarado and Trey Murphy III made it to the Rising Star mini-tournament, to be held a day before the official All-Star Game in Salt Lake City this month.

Rising Stars 💫 @PelicansNBA | #Pelicans pic.twitter.com/hNHEDpOg3I

— Bally Sports New Orleans (@BallySportsNO) January 31, 2023

The other good news is Zion Williamson, who was chosen to be part of LeBron James’ starting team. This means the Pelicans star’s injury isn’t that serious and he should be back in court helping his team in the next couple of games.

New Orleans face the Dallas Mavericks tonight at the American Airlines Center at 7:30pm CST.