The New Orleans Pelicans recently appointed Joe Dumars as their new president of basketball operations, replacing David Griffin, who served the club for nearly six years.
Credit: AP Photo
During his introductory press conference last Tuesday, Dumars, a proud native of Louisiana, vowed to make the New Orleans Pelicans viable compared in the years past.
“Sometimes opportunities come along and, you know, right place, right time, right people,” Dumars said via The Associated Press. “We want people that are going to embrace New Orleans. They’re going to embrace being in this city, in this state.”
The New Orleans Pelicans are fresh from a forgettable 2024-25 regular season where they finished with a 21-61 record – the franchise’s second-worst mark since arriving in New Orleans in 2002 and worst since the 2004-05 season.
New Orleans Pelicans News: Dumars was noncommittal on the future of Zion Williamson
Zion Williamson was one of the talking points during Joe Dumars’ introductory press conference. However, the New Orleans Pelicans boss offered a blunt response about his future with the team.
“At the league office, I’ve had to talk to Zion a few times,” Dumars said about Williamson. “I won’t go into those conversations. But we talked since then, and I’ve talked to Zion since I became the EVP here, and we had exceptional conversations on the phone.”
Williamson will enter the third year of his five-year, $197 million contract in 2025-26, where he’ll earn roughly $39 million. Despite his undeniable talent and potential, the two-time NBA All-Star has found it hard to stay on the floor due to injuries, thus his name popping up in trade rumors.
