New Orleans Pelicans

New Orleans had been a founding member of the ABA with the New Orleans Buccaneers (1967–1970), but the lack of a dedicated arena and a poor performance record led the team to relocate to Memphis. The city acquired an NBA expansion franchise in June 1974: the New Orleans Jazz (as a tribute to New Orleans' history of originating jazz music). The team faced a number of the same logistical and financial woes, and relocated to Salt Lake City in 1979–80. One of the few bright spots during the Jazz's tenure in New Orleans was the acquisition of "Pistol" Pete Maravich (who had played college basketball at LSU). Although he was considered one of the most entertaining players in the league and won the scoring championship for the 1976–77 season with 31.1 points per game, the Jazz's best record while in New Orleans was 39–43 in the 1977–78 season.

In 1994, the Minnesota Timberwolves were suffering financially and an ownership group almost purchased the team and moved it to New Orleans. The Timberwolves would have played at the Louisiana Superdome until a new arena was constructed. Financial problems, however, led to the NBA blocking the move. New Orleans would attempt to chase the Vancouver Grizzlies before finally landing another team in 2002.

Smoothie King Center, the home arena of the New Orleans Pelicans

While the Charlotte Hornets put a competitive team on the court throughout the 1990s, the team's attendance began falling dramatically. Many attributed this lapse in popularity to the team's owner, George Shinn, who was slowly becoming despised by the people of the city.[12] In 1997, a Charlotte woman claimed that Shinn had raped her, and the resulting trial severely tarnished his reputation in the city. The consensus was that while Charlotte was a basketball city, fans took out their anger at Shinn on the team. Shinn had also become discontented with the Charlotte Coliseum, which had been considered state-of-the-art when it opened but had since been considered obsolete due to a limited number of luxury boxes. On March 26, 2001, both the Hornets and the Vancouver Grizzlies applied for relocation to Memphis, Tennessee,[13] which was ultimately won by the Grizzlies. Shinn then issued an ultimatum that unless the city built a new arena at no cost to him, the Hornets would leave town. The city initially refused, leading Shinn to consider moving the team to either Norfolk, Louisville, or St. Louis. Of the cities in the running, only St. Louis had an NBA-ready arena, the Savvis Center, already in place and was a larger media market than Charlotte at the time; also, it was the only one of the four to have previously hosted an NBA franchise—the St. Louis Hawks, who moved to Atlanta in 1968.

Finally, a new arena in Uptown, which would eventually become the Spectrum Center, was included in a non-binding referendum for a larger arts-related package, and Shinn withdrew his application to move the team. Polls showed the referendum on its way to passage. However, just days before the referendum, Mayor Pat McCrory vetoed a living wage ordinance. The veto prompted many of the city's African American ministers to oppose the referendum; they felt it was immoral for the city to build a new arena when city employees were not paid enough to make a living.[14] After the referendum failed, city leaders devised a plan to build a new arena in a way that did not require voter support, but made it known that they would not even consider building it unless Shinn sold the team. While even the NBA acknowledged that Shinn had alienated fans, league officials felt such a demand would anger other owners as it could set a precedent.[15] The city council refused to remove the statement, leading the Hornets to request a move to New Orleans—a move which would eventually return the NBA to that city for the first time since the Jazz moved to Salt Lake City in 1979. Before the Hornets were eliminated from the playoffs, the NBA approved the move. As part of a deal, the NBA promised that Charlotte would get a new team, which took the court two years later as the Charlotte Bobcats.

In a 2008 interview with The Charlotte Observer, Shinn, who has not returned to Charlotte since the Hornets moved, admitted that the "bad judgment I made in my life" played a role in the Hornets' departure. He also said that if he had it to do all over again, he would not have withdrawn from the public after the sexual assault trial. Shinn emphasized how he was making amends by committing to New Orleans saying, "I've made enough mistakes in my life. I'm not going to make one here. This city needs us here. We're going to make this (New Orleans) thing work."[16]

The Hornets opened their inaugural season in New Orleans on October 30, 2002, against New Orleans' original NBA franchise, the Utah Jazz. In the first regular season NBA game played in New Orleans in over 17 years,[17] the Hornets defeated the Jazz 100–75, and posthumously retired #7 of "Pistol" Pete Maravich during halftime. The Hornets finished the season with a 47–35 record but were defeated by the Philadelphia 76ers in the First Round of the 2003 playoffs. Following the season, the team unexpectedly fired head coach Paul Silas and replaced him with Tim Floyd. The Hornets began the 2003–04 season strong with a 17–7 start but sputtered at the end and finished 41–41. They lost to the Miami Heat in the First Round of the 2004 playoffs. After the season, Floyd was fired and the team hired Byron Scott as its new head coach.

During the first two seasons in New Orleans, the Hornets competed in the NBA's Eastern Conference. The 2004–05 season saw the team move to the Western Conference's Southwest Division to even the number of teams in each conference after the Charlotte Bobcats started play in their inaugural season of that same year. In a season marred by injuries to the team's three all-stars, the team finished the year with a franchise-worst record of 18–64.

Chris Paul, selected by the Hornets as the fourth pick of the 2005 NBA draft

In the subsequent draft, the Hornets used their first-round pick to select point guard Chris Paul out of Wake Forest University. Because of the catastrophic devastation brought by Hurricane Katrina upon the communities of southeastern Louisiana, the Hornets franchise temporarily relocated its base of operations to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in 2005–06 and 2006–07, posting records of 38–44 and 39–43 respectively.[18] During this time, the franchise was known as the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets. In these two seasons, most home games were played at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City, while a few remained at New Orleans Arena. One year after the Hornets moved back to New Orleans permanently, the Seattle SuperSonics relocated to Oklahoma City and became the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Hornets franchise returned to New Orleans full-time for the 2007–08 season, with all 41 home games in the New Orleans Arena. The 2008 NBA All-Star Game and its accompanying festivities were awarded to New Orleans and a serious marketing campaign was commenced in February 2007. Healthier than previous seasons, the Hornets opened the season with a 29–12 record at the halfway mark, completing the regular season with a record of 56–26, making the season their most successful ever. The Hornets also won their first division title, winning the Southwest Division. Having clinched the second overall seed for the Western Conference in the 2008 playoffs, the Hornets beat the Dallas Mavericks in the first round, but then lost to the defending-champion San Antonio Spurs in seven games in the conference semifinals.

In August 2008, the Hornets unveiled a modified logo and new uniforms with the colors of Creole blue, purple, and Mardi Gras gold. Pinstripes were also added to the uniforms. The Hornets also introduced a new gold alternate uniform in 2010 which was used mostly in games played on Saturday at home and on the road. The Hornets finished the 2008–09 season with a 49–33 record. Facing the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the 2009 playoffs, the Hornets were eliminated in five games. The Hornets started the 2009–10 season with a 3–6 record and fired head coach Byron Scott. General manager Jeff Bower took over the head coaching duties for the remainder of the season. The Hornets finished the season with a 37–45 record and last in the Southwest Division they had won two seasons prior. Jeff Bower resigned as head coach and Monty Williams was brought in as new head coach. The team finished the 2010–11 season with a 46–36 record and qualified for the 2011 NBA playoffs, where they lost to the Lakers four games to two.

In December 2010, the NBA purchased the Hornets from George Shinn for an estimated $300 million.[19][20]

Before the 2011–12 season, the Hornets were considering trade offers for Chris Paul and he requested a trade to the New York Knicks. The Hornets looked at many teams, including the Boston Celtics and the Golden State Warriors as trade partners, but Paul had made it clear he wanted to be traded to New York or Los Angeles. A three-team trade involving the Los Angeles Lakers and the Houston Rockets was agreed upon, but commissioner David Stern, acting as the President of Basketball Operations for the Hornets (which were owned by the league office at that time) rejected the trade.[21][22] On December 14, 2011, the Hornets agreed to a deal with the Los Angeles Clippers that would send Paul to Los Angeles in exchange for Eric Gordon, Chris Kaman, Al-Farouq Aminu, and a first-round draft pick acquired by the Clippers from a trade with the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2004.

On April 13, 2012, it was announced that Tom Benson, owner of the National Football League's New Orleans Saints, had purchased the franchise from the NBA for $338 million.[23][24] In addition, Benson announced that he would change the team name to something that would better suit the region, fueling rumors that the Hornets name could one day return to Charlotte, where the Charlotte Bobcats had been playing since 2004.[25] In June 2012, Benson appointed two senior Saints executives to supervise the Hornets: Saints' general manager Mickey Loomis became head of basketball operations, overseeing general manager Dell Demps, and Saints' business operations head Dennis Lauscha took on the same role with the Hornets.[26]

The Hornets traded Emeka Okafor and Trevor Ariza to the Wizards for Rashard Lewis, whom they bought out, and a draft pick.

On May 30, 2012, the Hornets were awarded the first overall pick in the 2012 NBA draft and subsequently drafted Anthony Davis. They also drafted Austin Rivers with the tenth pick (acquired from the Clippers as part of the Chris Paul trade).

On July 11, 2012, Ryan Anderson, 2012's Most Improved Player and three-point field goals leader, was acquired by the New Orleans Hornets in a sign-and-trade with the Orlando Magic for Gustavo Ayón.

Athony Davis, seen here in 2014, was drafted first overall by the Pelicans in 2012 and subsequently became the focal point of the team for many years.

New owner Tom Benson had indicated early in his ownership that he wished to change the team's name to something more local, even preferring that the Utah Jazz – founded in New Orleans in 1974 and played there until 1979 – give up the "Jazz" name, but the Jazz indicated they had no interest in returning the name due to over 30 years of history associated with it. Benson had also heavily favored the names "Brass" and "Krewe".

However, on December 4, 2012, it was reported that the Hornets would change their name to the New Orleans Pelicans beginning with the 2013–14 season.[27] The team name is inspired by Louisiana's state bird, the brown pelican.[28]

The name "Pelicans" previously had been used by a minor-league baseball team that played in New Orleans from 1901 to 1957.[29] The Hornets organization officially confirmed the name change in a press conference held on January 24, 2013, where officials unveiled the team's new logos and navy blue–gold–red color scheme.[11][4] On April 18, 2013, after the end of the team's 2012–13 season, the team's name was officially changed to the Pelicans.[30]

Following the New Orleans franchise's 2013 disestablishment of the "Hornets" name, on May 21, 2013, the Charlotte Bobcats' owner Michael Jordan officially announced the organization had submitted an application to change the name of his franchise to the Charlotte Hornets for the 2014–15 season pending a majority vote for approval by the NBA Board of Governors at a meeting in Las Vegas, on July 18, 2013.[31] Then-NBA Deputy Commissioner and COO Adam Silver had previously pointed out that the league owns the rights to the name Hornets and that could speed up the process.[32] The NBA unanimously approved the name change starting with 2014–15.[33]

On June 27, 2013, during the 2013 NBA draft, the Pelicans selected Nerlens Noel 6th overall, and traded him along with a 2014 protected first-round pick for All-Star point guard Jrue Holiday of the Philadelphia 76ers and the 42nd pick, Pierre Jackson.[34] At a May 20, 2014, press conference announcing the Charlotte Bobcats' official team name change to Hornets, it was also announced that the Pelicans agreed to transfer the records and statistics of the original Hornets (1988–2002) to the current Charlotte franchise, thus unifying all of Charlotte's NBA basketball history under one franchise; the team records and statistics since the 2002 move to New Orleans would be retained by the Pelicans, retroactively turning the Pelicans into a 2002 expansion team.[1] As a result, the Hornets are considered in the league records as having suspended operations from 2002 to 2004, became the Bobcats from 2004 to 2014, and then the Hornets again.

Alvin Gentry coached the team from 2015 to 2020

During the 2014–15, for the first time under the name Pelicans, the team qualified for the NBA playoffs with a 45–37 record as the eighth seed in the Western Conference. They owned the tie-breaker over the Oklahoma City Thunder by winning the regular season head-to-head series, 3–1, and they faced the Golden State Warriors in the first round; the Warriors swept the Pelicans in four games. After the season, the Pelicans fired coach Monty Williams.[35]

On May 31, 2015, the Pelicans hired Alvin Gentry as the franchise's sixth head coach.[36] The Pelicans missed the 2016 NBA playoffs, finishing with a 30–52 record. They acquired the 6th pick in the 2016 NBA Draft from the draft lottery and selected Buddy Hield from the University of Oklahoma.[37]

On February 20, 2017, the Pelicans acquired DeMarcus Cousins in a trade with the Sacramento Kings when they traded Buddy Hield, Tyreke Evans, Langston Galloway, a 2017 first-round pick, and a 2017 second-round pick in exchange for Cousins and Omri Casspi.

On February 1, 2018, the Pelicans acquired Nikola Mirotić in a trade with the Chicago Bulls. Though the trade went through, a previous trade for Mirotić to the Pelicans was called off when New Orleans did not want to pay for Mirotić's 2019 team option contract that Mirotić had signed with the Bulls during the off-season in 2017. The Pelicans received Mirotić and a 2018 second-round pick for veterans Ömer Aşık, Jameer Nelson, and Tony Allen. Mirotić demanded a trade when former teammate Bobby Portis punched Mirotić in the face during an off-season practice. At the time of the trade, Mirotić was the Bulls' leading scorer, and DeMarcus Cousins was injured. Mirotić played well for the Pelicans after the trade.[38]

On March 15, 2018, Tom Benson died from complications of the flu. Ownership of the Pelicans and the Saints were transferred to Benson's widow, Gayle Benson.[39]

The Pelicans clinched a playoff spot on April 9, 2018,[40] and finished with a 48–34 record. In the first round of the playoffs, they swept the Portland Trail Blazers in four games[41] and then lost to the Golden State Warriors four games to one.[42]

In January 2019, Davis demanded a trade from the franchise, and was fined for publicly announcing the request.[43] On May 14, 2019, the Pelicans received the first overall pick at the NBA draft lottery of the 2019 NBA draft, despite having a six percent chance to win it.[44][45] On June 15, 2019, the Pelicans agreed to trade Davis to the Los Angeles Lakers. In return, the Lakers agreed to send Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart and three first-round picks, including the fourth overall pick in the 2019 NBA draft, to the Pelicans.[46] The Pelicans later agreed to trade draft rights of the fourth overall pick of the 2019 NBA draft to the Atlanta Hawks, receiving the draft rights to the eighth, 17th and 35th picks in the 2019 NBA draft.[47] The three-way trade was completed on July 6, 2019, marking the end of an era for the Pelicans.[48]

Zion Williamson

On April 17, 2019, the Pelicans named David Griffin as the new executive vice president of basketball operations.[49] On May 19, 2019, the Pelicans named former Brooklyn Nets assistant general manager Trajan Langdon their newest general manager, replacing interim general manager Danny Ferry.[50]

On June 20, 2019, the Pelicans selected Zion Williamson with the first overall pick.[51] The team also drafted Alen Smailagić and Jordan Bone, both of whom were immediately traded to the Golden State Warriors and Atlanta Hawks, respectively. The Pelicans then received Jaxson Hayes, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Marcos Louzada Silva from the Hawks. On July 1, the Pelicans announced that they signed Williamson to his rookie-scale contract.[52] However, the Pelicans began the 2019–20 season without Williamson as he had a knee surgery following an injury in the preseason.[53] He made his debut on January 22, 2020, scoring 22 points in 18 minutes of play.[54] On March 3, 2020, Williamson was named the NBA Rookie of the Month for the month of February. During the month, Williamson averaged 25.7 points, 6.2 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and 1.0 steal a game.[55]

Brandon Ingram had a breakout season. On December 30, 2019, Ingram was named the Western Conference Player of the Week for games played between December 23 to December 29. During the week, Ingram averaged 25.3 points, 7.3 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 2.0 steals per game while shooting 49.3 percent from the field and 54.2 percent from three-point range. Ingram helped the Pelicans to a 4–0 week as a result.[56] On January 16, 2020, Ingram recorded a career-high by scoring 49 points in a 138–132 overtime win against the Utah Jazz. Ingram gave the Pelicans a one-point lead with a fadeaway jumper with 0.2 seconds remaining in regulation. This was before Rudy Gobert was fouled and subsequently sent the game to overtime with a free throw.[57] Because of his breakout season, Ingram became an NBA All-Star for the first time in his career.[58] Ingram also won the 2020 Most Improved Player award.[59]

Following the suspension of the 2019–20 NBA season, the Pelicans were one of the 22 teams invited to the NBA Bubble to participate in the final eight games of the regular season.[60] On August 9, 2020, the Pelicans were eliminated from postseason contention when the Portland Trail Blazers defeated the Philadelphia 76ers.

In February 2022, Rush Street Interactive's (RSI) BetRivers has signed a deal with the New Orleans Pelicans, which sees the operator become the basketball team's official sportsbook partner. As part of the agreement, BetRivers’ branding will appear throughout the home arena of the Pelicans, the Smoothie King Center, while VIP-themed Chairman's Club will be rebranded as the BetRivers Chairman Lounge.[61]

Despite Williamson missing the entire season with a right foot fracture,[62] the Pelicans finished the 2021–22 NBA season with a 36–46 record, which earned them the ninth place position in the Western Conference and a chance to make the playoffs through the play-in tournament.[63] On April 13, 2022, the Pelicans defeated the tenth-place San Antonio Spurs 113–103 at home in the first round of the play-in[64] and two days later defeated the eighth-place Los Angeles Clippers 105–101 on the road in the second round of the play-in[65] to clinch the eighth seed and New Orleans' first playoff berth since 2018.

The Pelicans hold the draft rights to the following unsigned draft picks who have been playing outside the NBA. A drafted player, either an international draftee or a college draftee who is not signed by the team that drafted him, is allowed to sign with any non-NBA teams. In this case, the team retains the player's draft rights in the NBA until one year after the player's contract with the non-NBA team ends.[83] This list includes draft rights that were acquired from trades with other teams.

Draft	Round	Pick	Player	Pos.	Nationality	Current team	Note(s)	Ref
2022	2	52	Karlo Matković	F	Croatia	Cedevita Olimpija (Slovenia)
2010	2	48	Latavious Williams	F	United States	Jeonju KCC Egis (South Korea)	Acquired from Miami Heat (via Oklahoma City)	[84]

"Pistol Pete" Maravich uniform No. 7 was retired

Notes:

• ¹ The then-New Orleans Hornets retired Maravich's number during their first game in New Orleans in honor of his basketball contributions to the state of Louisiana, both during his college career at Louisiana State University (LSU) and his professional career with the city's former NBA team, the New Orleans Jazz.
• The NBA retired Bill Russell's No. 6 for all its member teams on August 11, 2022.[85][86]