Another year, another disappointing season for the New Orleans Pelicans. Each year, hope fills fans: will this be the year Zion Williamson makes it a full season without getting injured? Will we finally see our big three play together for an extended period of time? Will we finally be, dare we say, legitimate contenders for a championship? 

As with the past three seasons, the answer remains the same: nope. 

This season was particularly painful, as the team waited until April to shut down hopes of people across New Orleans. 

On March 15, I joined many passionate, hopeful New Orleanians at the Smoothie King Center to watch the Pels take on the Los Angeles Clippers, who, at the time, were a game above New Orleans for the fourth seed in the Western Conference and, therefore, home court in the playoffs. These stakes gave the whole game the sense that it meant more than your average March regular season game. 

What the entire city of New Orleans and I witnessed that night was the best game of Williamson’s career — at the time. Williamson revealed his full potential as a superstar who can dominate on both ends and carry a team on his back. That night, Williamson got no help, with Brandon Ingram shooting 4-12 and C.J McCollum having a 5-13 night from the field, not to mention 1-7 from the three point line.

But it didn’t matter. Williamson set the tone from the opening tip and took it right to the Clippers, finishing with 34 points, seven rebounds and three steals, relentlessly driving to the basket until the final buzzer. The Pelicans won 112-104, cementing the tiebreaker over the Clippers and putting the Pels in prime position to take the No. 4 seed. 

Then, like every other year, the injury bug infested the locker room. First, it was Ingram, who hyperextended his left knee six days later. After the injury, the Pelicans went 6-5, a tough stretch considering how competitive the Western Conference was. They found themselves in familiar territory — the play-in game — with Ingram returning to the lineup two days before the game.  

Almost exactly a month later, I returned to the Smoothie King Center for the play-in game, this time rooting for my Los Angeles Lakers — may they rest in peace next to the Pels — against the Pelicans. Momentarily unsympathetic for the Pels and New Orleans residents, I gleefully watched my Lakers rip the Pelicans apart, taking an 18-point lead midway through the third quarter as the crowd around me fell silent. The Pelicans looked dead, until Williamson happened. 

Like a month earlier against the Clippers, I watched Williamson not just dominate the game, but become the game itself. He went right at Lebron James and Anthony Davis, two guys who are at least 6 feet 9 inches tall and 250 pounds, pushing them around until he found the right angle to get his shot up. With Ingram having a 4-12 night and McCollum going 4-15, Williamson almost single-handedly brought the Pelicans back into the game, to the point where my passionate cheering for the Lakers led to silence as the crowd erupted around me. 

But the injury bug bit again. I was too focused on the Lakers offensive possession when my friend tapped me on the shoulder and pointed at a frustrated Williamson limping to the locker room, never to come out for the rest of the game. Not only did the Lakers win the game, but Williamson suffered another hamstring injury, taking him out for at least the first round of the playoffs. 

Just like that, the Pelicans season was over. People hoped Williamson might return sometime in the playoffs, but the rest of the team fell apart as a young Oklahoma City Thunder team swept them. Ingram, who in years past has done well carrying the load without Williamson, had a nightmare series, going 2/14 with just 8 points in the closeout game. 

As with the past few seasons, Pelicans fans are left thinking “what if” when reflecting on the playoffs and how their season would have unfolded if they had just stayed healthy. 

It is time to stop asking “what if” and start saying “enough is enough.” 

The reality is this team can never stay healthy, and between Williamson and Ingram, one of them is bound to get injured. There are also key issues this team hasn’t addressed, namely as a true point guard who can set up Williamson and a big man who can truly space the floor. Center Jonas Valanciunas is 30% from the three point line on the season; you can’t tell me with a straight face you want him shooting threes. 

When needs must be addressed, the most common solution is a trade, which requires a sacrifice. After getting traded for Davis back in 2019, the Ingram era in New Orleans has to come to an end. The Pelicans are deep on the wing, with Herbert Jones and Trey Murphy III being standout players this season and Naji Marshall putting in some good minutes off the bench as well. 

Ingram’s departure gives Murphy the chance to take another leap forward and become one of the premier scoring options. In return, the Pelicans should look for a big and a point guard, who both will maximize Williamson’s abilities. 

There is still a lot of playoff left, which means more room for stars and key players to grow unhappy with their current situations as they enter free agency. The Pelicans must be aggressive this offseason in attacking their needs so that fans around New Orleans no longer have to ask themselves “what if?”