The New Orleans Pelicans are done with head coach Willie Green.
The Pelicans fired Green on Saturday, according to Chris Haynes. Green was at the very beginning of his fifth season with the Pelicans this fall, though they started the campaign out by losing six straight games — which dropped them to the bottom of the NBA standings immediately.
Green is now the first head coach in the league to be fired this season.
New Orleans was hoping for a solid start this season after Zion Williamson appeared to be in great condition and the offseason acquisitions of guard Jordan Poole and veteran center Kevon Looney, along with promising first-round draft selections Jeremiah Fears and Derik Queen. The Pelicans also were excited about the returns of Trey Murphy and Herb Jones, both of whose seasons ended last season prematurely because of shoulder surgery.
But the team continued to be mired in an offense stuck in neutral with an undersized roster that often struggled to rebound and defend, and seemingly lacked direction. They lost their first six games to start the season, and didn’t win a game until they finally beat the Charlotte Hornets, 116-112, on Nov. 4. There were multiple bad blowouts in there, too, including a 32-point loss to the Boston Celtics, a 34-point loss to the Denver Nuggets and a 31-point loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Compounding the matter, Williamson’s health didn’t last. He missed the third game of the year with a bone bruise in his foot before suffering a Grade 1 hamstring injury for which he has missed more time.
Injuries decimated the Pelicans last season as they won 21 games and finished 14th in the West. Williamson played 30 games before being shut down in March with a back injury, 2024 marquee offseason acquisition Dejounte Murray suffered a torn Achilles after 31 games, and Jones and Murphy combined to play 71 games.
New Orleans did make the 2024 Western Conference playoffs as the No. 8 seed after defeating the Sacramento Kings in the play-in tournament. They were swept 4–0 in the first round by the Oklahoma City Thunder. They also made the postseason in 2022, but fell to the Phoenix Suns in the first round.
In total, Green finished his New Orleans tenure with a 150-190 record. It marked his first head coaching job in the league. Green was hired by the Pelicans after two seasons as an assistant with the Phoenix Suns. Prior to that, he was on the staff for the Golden State Warriors‘ back-to-back NBA champions in 2016-17 and 2017-18, working in player development. Green played 12 seasons in the league himself, too, including one in New Orleans before jumping into coaching.
Defense was considered Green’s specialty when he was hired, and the Pelicans have been one of the NBA’s best defensive teams during his tenure. Yet this season, New Orleans has plummeted to 28th in the league defensive rating (number of points allowed per 100 possessions) while allowing 121.3 points per game.
While change was clearly needed in New Orleans based on how they started this season alone, Green’s replacement has quite the uphill battle ahead of him.
