The Pelicans fire Willie Green after a disappointing start to the season
The New Orleans Pelicans have made the decision to fire their coach, Willie Green, after a season start with a 2-10 record, as announced by the team on Saturday. Green was affected by a disastrous 0-6 start and injuries to key players. Zion Williamson, for example, has only participated in five games due to a hamstring injury, a problem he has suffered in four consecutive seasons. The Pelicans became the first team in NBA history to lose three of their first six games by a margin of at least 30 points, after conceding at least 120 points in five straight games at the start of a season, an unprecedented feat for the franchise. New Orleans is currently on a four-game losing streak, including a 118-104 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday. The Pelicans rank among the five worst teams in the league in terms of offensive and defensive efficiency this season. Green was in his fifth season as the Pelicans’ coach, and his final record is 150-190, with playoff appearances in the 2021-22 and 2023-24 seasons.James Borrego, team assistant, will take over as interim coach of the Pelicans. Borrego, former coach of the Charlotte Hornets, was a finalist for the coaching positions of the Lakers and the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2024. The New York Knicks and the Denver Nuggets also offered him senior assistant positions during the offseason, but he decided to stay in New Orleans. Dumars indicated that the plan is for Borrego to be the interim coach for the rest of the season. When Williamson is in shape, he is a force. This season he averages 22.8 points, 6.8 rebounds, 4.6 assists, and 2.0 steals per game. However, he has been out since November 4th, after having participated in 30 and 29 games in two of the previous three seasons. Green also had to coach without Jordan Poole, who missed games due to a left quadriceps strain. In addition, point guard Dejounte Murray remains out while recovering from a ruptured Achilles tendon suffered in late January. Dumars made several key moves in the offseason, such as acquiring Poole and Kevon Looney. The Pelicans have many incentives to win games. On draft night, they traded an unprotected 2026 first-round pick to the Atlanta Hawks to get the 13th pick and select Derik Queen. Although Queen has impressed with more playing time since the beginning of November, and Jeremiah Fears, the seventh overall pick, has started and shown potential, the pick sent to Atlanta could be one of the best in what is expected to be a franchise-talent draft. New Orleans also traded another 2026 first-round pick to the Indiana Pacers to acquire the number 23 pick in 2025. By moving both their own pick and the Pacers’ pick, the Pelicans currently do not have first-round picks in 2026. When asked if he was worried about not having a first-round pick, Dumars replied: “There’s no point in me worrying about that now. It’s already done. … I’m concerned about the players we have here, the players we’ve drafted and seeing them grow and become the players they are. I’m not sitting here worrying about the pick we don’t have.” Dumars said that all decisions about playing time and rotations belong to Borrego and that he is not imposing any requirements on the coach to play or start Fears and Queen. “I told him, ‘I’m going to support whatever you want to do,'” Dumars said. “‘It’s your decision. I’m not the coach. I’m never going to be the coach. I never want to be the coach. It’s your decision, James. However you want to do it, I’m going to support you 100 percent.’ I made it very clear this morning. … He has no mandate from me that he has to play this guy or give him minutes, none of that.” Green was hired by the Pelicans in 2021 from the coaching staff of the Western Conference champion Phoenix Suns, as a promising assistant in the league. Green’s best season was in 2023-24, when New Orleans won 49 games before being swept by the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round. Green’s departure comes months after David Griffin was replaced by Dumars in April.“It really wasn’t the win-loss record that was the determining factor. That wasn’t everything,” stated Joe Dumars, executive vice president of basketball operations for the Pelicans. “I was very clear from the beginning, there was no mandate that you had to win a certain number of games. There wasn’t even a mandate of ‘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 in the future, and I just didn’t see that happening. And that was more than anything the determining factor here.”
Joe Dumars
