The New Orleans Pelicans have fired their coach, Willie Green, after a tough 2-10 start to the season. The team made the announcement on Saturday.
Things got really rough for Green after a miserable 0-6 start. Injuries to some of their best players didn’t help either. Zion Williamson has only managed to play five games this season because of a hamstring injury — the same problem that has kept bothering him for four straight seasons.
The Pelicans made some unwanted history in the NBA. They were the first team ever to lose three out of their first six games by 30 points or more. On top of that, they let their opponents score 120 points or more in five straight games to start the season — a first in the team’s history, according to ESPN Research.
Right now, the Pelicans are on a losing streak of four games, including a 118-104 loss to the Lakers last Friday. They rank near the bottom in both offense and defense this season, again based on ESPN data.
Willie Green was in his fifth season as the Pelicans’ head coach. He leaves with a win-loss record of 150-190, and he did help the team make it to the playoffs in the 2021-22 and 2023-24 seasons.
Joe Dumars, the team’s executive VP of basketball operations, said the decision wasn’t just about the wins and losses. “It really wasn't the won-lost record as the ultimate determining factor. That was not it," Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations Joe Dumars said. "I was very clear from the very beginning, there was no mandate that you have to win a certain amount of games. There wasn't even a mandate that, 'Oh, you have to make the play-in or the playoffs.' We have to establish who we're going to be here in New Orleans going forward, and I just did not see that happening. And that was more than anything else what's the determining factor here.”
The Pelicans will have assistant coach James Borrego step in as the interim head coach. Borrego has a solid background, having coached the Charlotte Hornets before and being a finalist for head coaching jobs with the Lakers and Cavaliers in 2024. During the offseason, the Knicks and Nuggets also offered him top assistant roles, but he chose to stay with New Orleans.
Dumars said Borrego will lead the team for the rest of the season.
When Zion Williamson is healthy, he’s a real game-changer. This season, he’s averaging 22.8 points, 6.8 rebounds, 4.6 assists, and 2 steals a game. Unfortunately, he has been out since November 4, and in past seasons he was limited to around 30 games due to injuries.
Coach Green also had to deal with injuries to other key players like Jordan Poole, who has been sidelined with a quad strain, and Dejounte Murray, who is still recovering from a torn Achilles tendon.
This offseason, Dumars made several important moves, including bringing in Poole and Kevon Looney.
The Pelicans have reasons to want to win though. They gave up an unprotected 2026 first-round pick to the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for the No. 13 overall pick, which they used to select Derik Queen. Queen has been impressive since getting more playing time in November, and the No. 7 pick, Jeremiah Fears, has started games and shown promise. But that 2026 pick sent to Atlanta could turn out to be very valuable in a draft loaded with potential stars.
New Orleans also traded another 2026 first-round pick to the Indiana Pacers to get the No. 23 pick in 2025. So right now, the Pelicans don’t have any first-round picks scheduled for 2026.
When asked if he worries about not having a first-round pick in 2026, Dumars said, “There's no sense in me being concerned about it now. It's done. ... I'm concerned about the guys we have here, the guys we drafted and watching them grow and the players they become. I am not sitting here worried about the pick that we don't have.”
Dumars also made it clear that all decisions about playing time and lineups are up to Borrego, with no pressure to start or play any particular players.
"I said to him, 'I am going to support whatever you want to do,'" Dumars said. "'It's your call. I'm not the coach. I am never going to be the coach. I never want to be the coach. It's your call, James. However you want to go with this, I am going to support you 100 percent.' I made that very clear to him this morning. ... He doesn't have a mandate from me that you have to play this guy for minutes, none of that.”
Willie Green joined the Pelicans coaching staff in 2021 after working with the Phoenix Suns during a strong season for that team. His best year coaching the Pelicans was 2023-24, when New Orleans won 49 games, though they got swept in the first round of the playoffs by the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Green’s firing comes just months after Joe Dumars replaced David Griffin as the team’s basketball operations VP in April.
Wilson Pick Focus: Oklahoma City Thunder @ New Orleans Pelicans (Thunder -17.5, -110)
Oklahoma City has been on a tear, and I trust them to handle business again. Since their win over Sacramento, every one of their eight straight victories came by double digits, and six of those margins cleared this 17.5-point spread. Meanwhile, New Orleans sits at the bottom of the West with a scoring differential of minus-12.9 and enters this matchup severely depleted on the second night of a back-to-back.
Even with their own rotation players out, the Thunder’s league-best defense and depth give them more than enough firepower to control this game early. The Pelicans are simply missing too many key pieces—Zion Williamson is expected out, and Jordan Poole and Dejounte Murray are officially ruled out—limiting their ability to keep pace or threaten a late backdoor cover.
This OKC team just beat the Lakers by 29, continues to defend at an elite level (1st in PPG allowed), and averages over 122 points per night. New Orleans struggles to generate consistent offense and allows opponents to shoot nearly 51% from the field. With the talent gap, the matchup edge, and the momentum Oklahoma City carries, I’m leaning Thunder to win comfortably and cover the big number. Lock in the Thunder -17.5 (-110) now at Bankroll U!
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