The New Orleans Pelicans are one of the newest teams in the entire NBA. Although the Big Easy has had a storied history with professional basketball, the actual current franchise has only been in the city since 2002 after the original Charlotte Hornets relocated to Louisiana.
Before that, the city had one of the original ABA teams, the New Orleans Buccaneers, who relocated to Memphis. Then, in 1974, the NBA expanded and the New Orleans Jazz were born. Unfortunately, due to their lack of a designated arena and on-court success, the Jazz moved to Salt Lake City ahead of the 1979-80 season. Between 1979 and 2002, there was no professional basketball in NOLA until the Hornets came to town and eventually metamorphosed into the Pelicans.
Even though the Pelicans have only been around for just over two decades, they’ve already had some monumental players in the franchise’s history. Talents like Chris Paul, Anthony Davis, Tyson Chandler, David West, Jrue Holiday, and Zion Williamson have etched their names into basketball immortality with New Orleans. Some players, though, might not be remembered so fondly by the Crescent City, and, apparently, the feeling is mutual…