New Orleans Pelicans forecast
Why the New Orleans Pelicans are where they are, and a rotation you can play with: move minutes, sit a player, see what changes. Updated every night.
Why New Orleans is at 6% to make the playoffs
- 4-6 so far, heading for about 33 wins (25 to 40 in most of the seasons we played out).
- Plays like a team 1.2 points a game worse than average, the 9th worst rating in the league.
- 72 games left, and one of the harder schedules: the 2nd toughest of 30.
- The rating leans most on Herbert Jones, Zion Williamson and Karlo Matković. Sit one of them in the rotation below to see how much he matters.
Our forecast
- Projected wins
- 33
- Playoffs
- 6%
- Title
- <1%
With Missi back
Replaying the season…
Play with the rotation
Every player starts at the minutes he's been playing and the rating we give him. Change either one, or sit someone, and we replay the rest of the season 2,000 times.
| Player | Overall | Min/game | Out? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dejounte Murray New this season | Overall−0.1 | 33 min | |
| Zion Williamson Interior big | Overall+1.0 | 31 min | |
| Trey Murphy III Scoring wing | Overall−1.3 | 31 min | |
| Jeremiah Fears Scoring wing | Overall−1.3 | 27 min | |
| Saddiq Bey Scoring wing | Overall−0.3 | 26 min | |
| Herbert Jones Spot-up shooter | Overall+2.9 | 22 min | |
| Derik Queen Interior big | Overall−1.4 | 21 min | |
| Karlo Matković Low-usage role player | Overall+1.4 | 17 min | |
| Trendon Watford Low-usage role player | Overall−1.0 | 17 min | |
| Bennedict Mathurin Scoring wing | Overall−0.2 | 15 min | |
| End of the bench | 0 min |
Hurt right now
The forecast at the top of the page counts these players out for the rest of the season. Here they come back on the date shown, at the minutes they were playing before. Change a date to see what it does.
- Yves Missi knee contusion · 8 games missed · usually back between Nov 11 and Nov 27
Around them in the standings
The teams just above and below them in the West, by projected wins.
- Dallas37 projected wins · 20%
- LA Clippers36 projected wins · 18%
- New Orleans33 projected wins · 6%
- Sacramento22 projected wins · <1%
- Utah21 projected wins · <1%
The roster by type of player
Share of the team's minutes, by the player type each played like last season, next to the league average.
- Star creator
- Playmaking guard
- Scoring wing
- Spot-up shooter
- Low-usage role player
- Rim-running big
- Interior big
- New this season
Pick the rest of the games yourself in the playoff predictor
How the forecast works, and how often it's right
Sitting a player hands his minutes to the rest of the rotation; moving minutes yourself takes them from, or gives them to, the end of the bench. The team's rating follows who plays the minutes. Ratings and player types are ours, built from play-by-play data. Not affiliated with the NBA.