NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Zion Williamson watched from the bench in street clothes — along with teammates CJ McCollum, Herb Jones, Trey Murphy III and Yves Missi — as the New Orleans Pelicans' worst season in two decades ended with a seventh-straight loss on Sunday.
In the stands across the court during the 115-100 loss to Oklahoma City was Pelicans basketball operations chief David Griffin, who still hasn't gotten to watch the team he assembled last summer all play together under the direction of Willie Green, the coach he hired four years ago.
Whether Griffin ever gets that chance is far from certain, given how losing brings about change.
“I haven't had any discussions, any talks yet,” Green said when asked about his future with the club. “I didn't do great great. I have to take full ownership of where we are as a team. We failed. I failed."
But Green said he hoped that the club's evaluation of him would include the previous three seasons, when New Orleans made qualified for the Western Conference play-in and twice advanced to a first-round playoff series.
“I think that's important. You try to look at the body of work,” Green said. “But I didn't give myself this job. I had to be chosen for this position, and I'm grateful.”
Williamson missed 52 games this season because of several injuries, his hamstring strain being the worst of them. Pelicans guard Dejounte Murray missed 51 games this season because of hand and Achilles injuries. Herb Jones missed 62 games with a shoulder injury. Brandon Ingram appeared in just 18 games with New Orleans because of an ankle injury before he was traded to Toronto. Murphy missed 29 games with multiple injuries.
Griffin, who did not speak with media on Sunday, joined the Pelicans in 2019. Shortly afterward, the Pelicans won the NBA's draft lottery, giving them the opportunity to draft Duke star Zion Williamson, the consensus top overall prospect that year.
But what appeared to be good fortune at that time in retrospect looks more like a curse.
Plagued by injuries, Williamson has missed 258 out of 472 regular-season games since he was drafted. Williamson also has never appeared in a postseason game.
The Pelicans have gone 209-263 since Griffin arrived and drafted Williamson, and the club has not won a single playoff series during that period.
New Orleans' 21-61 record this season was the second-worst in franchise history, and worst since 2004-05, about seven years before Pelicans owner Gayle Benson's late husband, Tom, bought the club in 2012.
Those results have left an air of uncertainty around the coming Pelicans offseason.
“We truly don’t know who’s going back. I'm just trying to be honest with you," Murphy said. "Nobody is safe.”
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
Brett Martel, The Associated Press
