Basketball in New Orleans 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.
2002–2005: The relocation and early years in New Orleans 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. In 1997, a Charlotte woman filed a rape allegation against Shinn, prompting a trial that ultimately damaged 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, 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 three to have previously hosted an NBA franchise—the
St. Louis Hawks, who moved to
Atlanta in 1968. Investigations into the
Louisville Cardinals men's basketball program uncovered information regarding a non-binding agreement made around this time period to move the Hornets to Louisville. At the time, Louisville officials were in the early stages of building a new arena. A group of businessmen and politicians from Louisville signed a non-binding agreement with the Hornets to move the team to Louisville, as long as they built a new arena downtown. Louisville officials were in the early planning process of building what would be the
KFC Yum! Center. Louisville officials were eager to bring the NBA team to Louisville, whose last professional basketball team was the ABAs
Kentucky Colonels. However, Louisville Basketball's newly hired head coach
Rick Pitino and athletic director
Tom Jurich were publicly opposed to the idea of bringing a professional sports team to Louisville, which led to the deal falling through.
David Stern recalled thinking "If Rick Pitino doesn't want us there, why would we go?". 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. 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. 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." 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, 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.
2005–2011: The Chris Paul era , 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. 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.
2011: The departure of Chris Paul 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. 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.
2012–2019: The Anthony Davis era 2012–2013: Beginning of the Anthony Davis era 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. 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. 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. 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. Some people believed that David Stern rigged the draft lottery to give the Hornets the first overall pick, citing a picture of Davis in a Hornets hat as evidence. They also drafted
Austin Rivers with the 10th 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.
2013–2015: Hornets to Pelicans 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. The team name is inspired by Louisiana's state bird, the
brown pelican. The name "Pelicans" previously had been used by a
minor-league baseball team that played in New Orleans from 1901 to 1957. 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. Following the New Orleans franchise's 2013 abandonment 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 majority approval by the NBA Board of Governors at a meeting in
Las Vegas, on July 18, 2013. 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. The NBA unanimously approved the name change starting with 2014–15. 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. During a press conference on May 20, 2014, 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. On May 31, 2015, the Pelicans hired
Alvin Gentry as the franchise's sixth head coach. 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.
2017–2019: End of the Anthony Davis era 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 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. 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. The Pelicans clinched a playoff spot on April 9, 2018, and finished with a 48–34 record. In the first round of the playoffs, they swept the
Portland Trail Blazers in four games before losing to the
eventual champion Golden State Warriors four games to one. In January 2019, Davis demanded a trade from the franchise, and was fined for publicly announcing the request. 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. 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. 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. The three-way trade was completed on July 6, 2019, marking the end of an era for the Pelicans.
2019–present: The Zion Williamson era On April 17, 2019, the Pelicans named
David Griffin as the new executive vice president of basketball operations. On May 19, 2019, the Pelicans named former
Brooklyn Nets assistant general manager
Trajan Langdon their new general manager, replacing interim general manager
Danny Ferry. On June 20, 2019, the Pelicans selected
Zion Williamson with the first overall pick. 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. However, the Pelicans began the
2019–20 season without Williamson as he had a knee surgery following an injury in the preseason. He made his debut on January 22, 2020, scoring 22 points in 18 minutes of play. 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 per game.
Brandon Ingram had a breakout season. On December 30, 2019, Ingram was named the
Western Conference Player of the Week for games played from December 23 to 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. On January 16, 2020, Ingram scored a career-high 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 into overtime with a
free throw. Because of his breakout season, Ingram became an
NBA All-Star for the first time in his career. Ingram also won the 2020 Most Improved Player award. 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. On August 9, 2020, the Pelicans were eliminated from postseason contention when the
Portland Trail Blazers defeated the
Philadelphia 76ers. In a trade with the Portland Trail Blazers, the Pelicans landed 2015-16 Most Improved Player
CJ McCollum as well as
Larry Nance Jr. and
Tony Snell in exchange for
Josh Hart,
Nickeil Alexander-Walker,
Tomáš Satoranský,
Didi Louzada, a protected 2022 first-round draft pick, the better of New Orleans' and Portland's 2026 second-round draft picks and New Orleans' 2027 second-round draft pick. Despite Williamson missing the entire season with a right foot fracture, 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. On April 13, 2022, the Pelicans defeated the 10th-place
San Antonio Spurs 113–103 at home in the first round of the play-in and two days later defeated the eighth-place
Los Angeles Clippers 105–101 on the road in the second round of the play-in to clinch the eighth seed and New Orleans' first playoff berth since 2018. The Pelicans selected Dyson Daniels with the 8th overall pick in the 2022 draft. Zion was selected for his second All-Star game despite only playing 29 games. Other Pelicans players would also dealt with injuries, but the team still made the play-in for the second time in a row but failed to advance to the playoffs. For the first time since his second season,
Zion Williamson stayed healthy for a majority of the regular season, playing 70 games. 2021 draft second-round pickup Herb Jones made the All-Defensive First Team as the fourth Pelican to do so. The Pelicans finished 49–33, just shy of 50 wins and advanced to the play-in for the third year in a row. Zion Williamson dropped 40 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in a loss to the Lakers. In that game, Zion got injured, ending his season. Despite not having Williamson, the Pelicans beat the Kings and advanced to the playoffs where they were swept by the
Oklahoma City Thunder.
2024–present: Acquisition of Dejounte Murray and departure of Brandon Ingram In the 2024 off-season, a blockbuster trade sent 2022 All-Star
Dejounte Murray to the Pelicans in exchange for 2022 lottery pick
Dyson Daniels to the
Atlanta Hawks along with
Larry Nance Jr.,
E.J. Liddell,
Cody Zeller and some future draft picks. On February 6, 2025,
Brandon Ingram was traded to the
Toronto Raptors in exchange for guard-forward
Bruce Brown, center
Kelly Olynyk, a 2026 first-round draft pick (via Indiana) and a 2031 second-round draft pick. On March 10, the NBA and Australia's
National Basketball League (NBL) announced that in October 2025, the Pelicans would play two preseason games at
Rod Laver Arena in
Melbourne as part of the
NBA x NBL: Melbourne Series. ==Logos and uniforms==