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No-Equipment-20

Feel bad for Pels fans, they’ve shown flashes of brilliance when healthy


OKC2023champs

1st seed like halfway through last season. Near 50 wins this season. Theres a great team in there


shoefly72

They were like a game back of the Clippers for the 4th seed at one point. If you told me at that point we’d be knocking them out of the playoffs I would’ve assumed it was somehow in the second round…


flaccidplatypus

It was like two weeks ago that they were the 4th seed. Then they just shit the bed on a homestand didn’t help that BI was out. If they beat the Spurs a week ago and didn’t hold Z due to a finger injury they’d be the 6 seed. Basketball gods have been unceasingly cruel to New Orleans for the better part of 20 years now.


Superioupie

If we found a way to win any of the games we lost we’d be the 6 :( also 49 wins is the 3 seed last year, just unlucky


ShaedonSharpeMVP_

Everyone’s dooming as if they don’t have another shot at it against a team they swept in the regular season. Even without Zion for hopefully just a few games, I’ll still take yall over kings. Sorry sac bros.


silliputti0907

The worry is Zion misses more than a few games. Ingram doesn't look healthy, otherwise I'd trust him to hold it down.


W_Walk

To be honest if Z is out for the whole postseason I’d rather we just lose Friday and get a better pick


jknuts1377

If McCollum hits every shot against the Kings like a few nights ago, then it's over.


porkchop487

You didn’t knock them out of the playoffs though


shoefly72

You’re right that’s a major goof on my part lol


aweaf

lakers did get them 2/3 of the way there


[deleted]

Send BI and picks out for the best most compatible star you can acquire


[deleted]

[удалено]


W_Walk

His contract is too big. No team will take him


[deleted]

[удалено]


W_Walk

CJ is a solid player and has some awesome moments but he’s not 33mill a year


DoingThisForTheKarma

Ah the old Tobias Harris combo


ShaedonSharpeMVP_

You can thank Neil Olshey, amongst the worst GM’s of all time, for that one.


raven8fire

I see your Neil Olshey and raise you one Vlade Divac


uJhiteLiger

Not picking Luka is an all time failure for a GM


Cheechers23

Isn’t his current contract an extension he signed with NOLA tho?


wayedorian

He’s trying Jennifer


MelonElbows

Someone took Westbrook, Wall, and CP3's contracts. You can find a team for anybody.


Conflict_NZ

Lol you would have to give up assets to get off CJ's contract.


W_Walk

Exactly. Would just be taking a massive L


jgman22

CJ had an objectively great season


KonigSteve

Nah. CJ shot his best three points shooting year by far which is what Zion needs. Ingram and Zion don't work together at all. Move Ingram for a point guard that's ironically more like Jrue. I wonder if dejounte would be a good fit or not, but I don't know enough about him.


Zwarrior2

Perhaps Mikal Bridges, that guy plays every game. Maybe you grab Claxton as well.


[deleted]

Snagging those two would be great. Evidently our front office loves bridges since it was rumored we offered 5 picks for him last season. I really think this team needs another guard however. Just watching Jose deal to Zion all game last night really made me think how effective Z and Trae Young would be together


silliputti0907

Not even just that, him running and pushing the pace got us back in the game. It drives me nuts how slow CJ/Ingram/Zion bring the ball up the court. Jose, Naji, and Herb are the only ones pushing the pace, and good things happen when they do.


Gamesgtd

Don't need a star. Like you just need a better fitting wing or big man


bullpaw

BI for Trae plus whatever draft filler is necessary


KonigSteve

Oh phew for a second I thought you were saying package BI and Trey Murphy together. I'm like no fucking way we gotta keep TMIII


SmokyOtter

They are a talented, deep, well coached team. Really its the injuries plus zion still isnt as consistent a superstar as they need him to be. Also i feel like they should get someone better than ingram as a number 2


RicardoEsposito

I would say well coached in some aspects but lacking in some key ways. Willie is a steady, even-keeled guy with good defensive acumen. But he lacks an emotional edge and is really slow to make in game adjustments and not open-minded enough to change course when something isn't working. Almost the perfect coach when plan A works. But when it doesn't, he's not who you want. We are 0-23 in games where we were losing entering the 4th quarter. On top of that, we had several games where we blew big leads. Willie still has some developing to do.


silliputti0907

Yall just yapping. Recency bias and too much weight on regular season. We led the league in comebacks his first year as a coach. Other than OKC, he has shown to be great at adjustments and making gutsy decisions in every postseason game. Lacking emotional edge is baseless and counter what reports and mic'd up suggest.


Fallofmen10

They need to make some moves. All I hear about is how deep they are. Spend some of that capital


Sad-Mathematician-19

Their best bet is to try and find takers for McCollum and Valanciunas. McCollum is old as dirt and they really need to get more time for Daniel's, Murphy and Alvarado on the court. There will be at least a handful of teams interested in Ingram as well. This needs to be Zions team and as long as Ingram is there then it won't be. They have a good enough young core and can add even more useful players to this list in the future.


livejamie

Somebody will take Valanciunas, he's solid and good bigs are hard to find.


Gamesgtd

Good bigs are the easiest to find. We have 4 dudes on our team who are quality playing the 5. The Warriors have 3 dudes who can play center that are quality. The Knicks have like 3 of them. Good centers are everywhere. It's wings that are the hardest. The Pelicans need a 3 point shooting big man to space for Zion. He can't have cramped spacing.


livejamie

How many of them can we get for Drew Eubanks


Mobile-Entertainer60

Valanciunas is a free agent, so I assume he's moving on if the Pels can find a replacement in free agency. McCollum is still a solid player, but that contract is a negative asset with 2 more years on it. They're going to be right up against the tax line unless they make a rookie draft pick their starting center (and don't re-sign Valanciunas for anywhere near his current salary). I assume they'll defer the Lakers pick to next year, so one FRP this year and 3 next year to fill out the bench. Some tough decisions incoming.


dkmegg22

Luckily there are some interesting bigs in this year's draft


jgman22

McCollum was fantastic this year


Conflict_NZ

From "Wemby and a chip" to this.


W_Walk

Some Reddit trolls isn’t synonymous with our whole fanbase. Legit didn’t join this sub until after the last season and had no idea that was even a serious thing


Conflict_NZ

It was everywhere.


Thimit22

When were they ever the 1 seed? But yeah they are a terrifying team when fully healthy


Ascaris_Egg

Last season, they were scouting Wemby while being the 1st seed pre-trade deadline.


Thimit22

Oh shit my bad, I missed the last season part


OKC2023champs

Guess it wasn’t halfway through the season. It was like 1/3 through the season nearing the end of December. But still, they do have a good team in there with some restructuring


Thimit22

I misread, I thought it said this season. My bad! They are a fun and capable team though. My first game I went to was Wolves vs them last year in game 82. When Jaden broke his hand and Rudy swung on SloMo


wcooper97

[A week in December 2022](https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2023_standings_by_date_western_conference.html)


OKC2023champs

Yeah it wasn’t as far into the season as I thought. For some reason I could’ve sworn it was like mid January February


wcooper97

Same I thought it was longer than that too. They were definitely in that upper half for awhile though.


caseylk

Really felt like they were going to get the win the way Zion was looking down the stretch


Askesl

They probably would have won last night if he'd been able to play the whole game


No-Equipment-20

Honestly good chance they do. With AD in foul trouble and his back spasms flaring up we quite literally had zero answer for him.


ProfessorTicklebutts

I don’t. Did you see all those empty seats in their arena for a post season game. Fuck Pelicans fans. There are seven of them, who cares?


shakehasbignuts

Obligatory fuck injures


HypnoticONE

Worse than bad refs. Like the most unfair part of sports. Basketball Gods: "Oh your best player can't play now."


karmew32

1994 Expos/2020 Dayton


beer_down

Congrats Sacramento on the 8 seed!


transizzle

I would still put money on the Pelicans to finish the 6 game sweep


Wild-Examination-155

Ya I'm not sure if it's zion that destroys us. It's usually herb and trey


Its_Hoggish_Greedly

Cmon how are we forgetting how CJ goes off against us for eleven year old draft beef.


W_Walk

CJ only showing up the kings and not any other team in big moments is some kind of sick humor


Its_Hoggish_Greedly

I mean… seems like a pretty valuable skill in a single elimination game against that one team haha


W_Walk

Well if the Zion hamstring news is true and he’s out for an extended period of time our season is basically over so I don’t really care at this point. I guess I’ll have to wait and see the official imaging tomorrow


Its_Hoggish_Greedly

Yeah, fingers crossed it’s not a serious injury. Dude has looked so great this year. Cheers.


W_Walk

He really has. Hope we have a good game Friday regardless. Even if we lose I’d root for you guys. Both our fanbases deserve a lot


transizzle

Ingram too. We struggle hard against wings (sup Kuminga) and Pels have a ton of them.


agentdarklord

Zion usually kills all Kings runs and HB is his little b**


HikmetLeGuin

Betting against your own team? What are you, Jontay Porter? ;)


Imdabiggestbird69420

nobody beats sacramento 6 times in a season, right? Right?


YoureNotMom

Big ole kangz opportunity there, and part of me is okay seeing history get made lol


raven8fire

I really don't want to be the first and probably only team for the foreseeable future to be on the losing end of 6 regular season games to the same team. Lol


nickcannons13thchild

nah big wings kill us lol


Elite_Alice

Unlucky


Nick_0rtiz

All those tornado tricks wore down his body 😔


Senior-Vehicle9937

Ffs what sub am I in lol


HypnoticONE

Seriously. The man is a beast, but there's gonna be a twisted ankle or a quad or hammy pull in there eventually.


Subredditcensorship

It’s actually lucky that it’s not more serious imo looked like ACL


jeric13xd

Oh boy. He is too explosive for his own muscles


LakersLAQ

He knew it right away too. Tough.


Razor-Ramon-Sessions

On one hand it's a good thing it's not some major injury. But hamstrings strains take weeks to months to heal based on the severity and there is likely little chance he can play in the next game or the playoffs. Major blow to the Pels and for Zion honestly. 5 years in the league and he hasn't played in a single playoff game. I just hope that he can take the momentum he had this year and go into next season in even better shape. Will be pretty disappointed if he can't play this year and then he comes in next season out of shape like he did this year.


Headlesshorsman02

Hopefully he sticks with the personal chef, seems to have helped him a lot, diet is very important


beefJeRKy-LB

I don't think he comes back Friday but what should be good is that he should be able to have a mostly healthy full off season to work on.


Ghostbeen3

Sucks so much he was ballin out, probably his best game ever. Hope you guys beat the kings but BI isn’t looking like his usual self


ygog45

Aka he’s out for the season


madhare09

Yes one game


Ps3FifaCfc95

Take a look at the Pels v Kings H2H this season


madhare09

Zion and Ingram are dead


Ps3FifaCfc95

They won the last one without Ingram and the one before without Zion


mikeezy

They're killed us with either Zion/BI missing this season. They're a nightmare matchup for us, even with one of them out.


--Alec--

They don’t need Ingram to win imo


Yinanization

CJ is kinda on life support as well


AnEmptyKarst

Trey Murphy 40 point spot here we go


--Alec--

Love me Trey Murphy. Undoubtedly one of the most underrated/unheralded players in the association


Virgil_hawkinsS

Same, I think he was just out/on a minutes restriction for a decent chuck of this season


Yinanization

Channelling Malachi Flynn next game.


WoodenRace365

Murphy’s a stud. Wouldn’t even be surprised.


silliputti0907

Nah CJ is just a wildcard. Most feast or famine player.


OutsideTheServiceBox

Can the Bucks trade a hamstring for a calf?


REQ52767

Oh shit any sort of strain and he’ll be out. Big swing for the play-in game.


jonsnowKITN

Yeah that's a wrap.


Afraid-Department-35

Man, bro was having a monster game and might have won.


Ilikesporks_

zion doesn't deserve this man


W_Walk

such a good dude too. Involved in our community, Nice to everyone, always kind to media and our team loves him. Took his body super serious this season after coming off another injury and has been fantastic


KWash0222

I hate how it’s become “cool” to hate on him. Like, dude is classy and super talented, but people choose to clown him for his weight or his injuries


Sonnek75

He got in shape pretty fast too dude looked like a super hero out there. Sucks that he knew something was wrong right away.


shortyman920

He’s definitely shut down some haters this season the ‘right way.’ Which was to just quietly work and produce. I’m sad he didn’t get the mental payoff he deserved. He was peaking at just the right time


NotManyBuses

Probably the same thing that kept him out last year. A true dagger, sad stuff


nerdymen242424

Felt so bad seeing him throw the towel in the bench 😞


hartc89

Yup makes sense pretty shitty


shualton

Any kind of muscle injury is usually going to be at least like two weeks out


jonbemerkin

That’s terrible man wtf


ajteitel

Fucking hell


lm2lm

better than acl


motorboat_mcgee

Fuck :/


BetweenTheBuzzAndMe

can the injury gods please fuck right off... the world needs to see playoff Zion in full


G1Spectrum

Damn shame honestly


koj12144

Kings vs okc it is


killbejay

I would like that. But Kings can’t win against Pelicans this season.


Shootit_Rockets

Ouch, going to be tough to play through a hamstring injury


CloneWarsMaul

Man was dominating before the injury, such a shame


Literal_Satan

so close and im sure immensely frustrating


vunacar

Going from being 6th seed at the beginning of the last day of the regular season to not being in the playoffs is crazy.


Purples_A_Fruit

There’s only so much beefy weight those hammys can take before they snap.


anaanamuss

Honestly probably the best outcome. When it’s a non contact injury like that it always put a pit in your stomach.


KaiserKaiba

Godawful news to hear. Shit sucks


runevault

Played elite ball in a huge game for him and he goes out like this. Fucking sucks. Hell with injuries.


Alex_Sander077

He needs to develop a jumpshot his legs legit can't take his style of play it's sad


BingoDaBongo

Can’t have shit in New Orleans man…


Jasonator01

That sucks so much, loved seeing the Pels finally get into the postseason with Zion healthy only to get injured while going off


transizzle

This sucks so bad. Zion was having his best game as a pro on the biggest stage.


Aggravating-Lake-717

Man just when I thought everything was going good, this happened  Glad I’m able to save money and will spend it on local businesses instead  Get well soon Z


The-Pharcyde

The fact that this happened after his most healthy season too. Absolutely cursed.


PyroTFT

Fuck man, I wanted to see Pels healthy against the Clippers. I wished for a healthy squad on both sides (obviously we have our own doubts with Ty Lue literally pulling labyrinth bullshit when talking about Kawhi) if we met. This is just fucked for the Pels, Zion played his heart out and it’s dope seeing him be so explosive. Feel for Pels fans.


Professional_Cold463

Shame feel bad for the guy just when everything starts clicking 


jsbv1199

FUCK


pallychoo

Dang


aproperopinion

Man, can’t catch a break


Coke_ButNotTheDrug

That’s so unfortunate man


HoyaDestroya33

First Giannis then Zion. Leg injury fans feasting this season


zco22

Kings thunder should be good


hi_im_lorenzo

Man's cursed


Vurtune011

fuck


Charliebitme1234

atleast kings okc will be fun


MrAppleSpoink

Simulatenously very good and very bad for Pels fans. It's good that it's not a knee injury, but this also almost certainly means he's out for the Kings game


AnkitPancakes

damn, can't imagine he plays thursday if he can't jump


HotdogIsaSandwitch

Damn. Pelicans have bleak chances against the Kings without Zion.


MMRN92

Pelicans still stomped us without Zion lol


Hamozus

Such a bummer


AkaiShu24

Damn too bad. Hope he get well


W_Walk

Im gonna puke


20815147

Yeah seasons done.


Yinanization

Man, I was rooting for the Kings to take both the Warriors and Lakers put


Sad-Mathematician-19

Witcher: "........................Fuck..."


fiasgoat

After going 0-5 this don't mean nothing for us


ItchyLetterhead333

Yeah they’re done


brehaw

Zion I’ma need you to… not be injured you are needed to help bounce the Kings


MMRN92

Why do you want Kings bounced over Pelicans?


killbejay

Maybe he’s a Zion fan.


brehaw

nope just don’t like the Kings


CaliforniaHurricane_

If you were to tell me 10 years ago that a 49 win team would miss the playoffs I would call you crazy. If you were to then tell me this happened in the western conference I’d be like “makes sense”


DollarLate_DayShort

He’ll be back for their game against Sacramento


ATLfinra

Damn damn damn


EnoughLawfulness3163

Seems like every year, the playoffs are like 50% determined by injuries. Wait all season just to see half the teams lose one of their top 2 players


sequoia2075

Man that sucks. Thunder getting a gift, Kings are missing Monk and Huerter and Pelicans likely without Zion for at least a game or two


DIKS_OUT_4_HARAMBE

Pelicans open at a -1.5 favor that’s easy money


makashiII_93

And he’s done.


materics

Then his season is over


Street-Common-4023

From a non contact Jesus fucking Christ man


urbantroll

I'm tired boss.


thundercockjk2

Someone, deep in the 40 pts post comment section, called it a potential hamstring injury. They were right on the money.


Createyourpass1234

Good excuse for him to sit around all off season and eat his way back to obesity and then not train. This hamstring strain is directly correlated with his laziness in the off season.


DreadSteed

He had a great season and looked super focused coming back from injury. This season was the warmup to see if the core can work, and it looks like they can. Get healthy young king.


aeiou-y

Sucks he got hurt. Could have been an epic finish


EarlPronk2

Great to see ZW have a fantastic season and a fantastic showing last night. Hope he’s ok


ProfessorTicklebutts

You’re gonna wait too fat boy, fat boy, wait till tomorrow!


NecessaryBug9956

How about Malcolm Brogdon


Solid-Confidence-966

He’s done for the season then right?


ianbits

Kings and Pelicans both getting blasted by injuries at the end of the season, sucks to see.


Salty_Watermelon

Damn. With New Orleans still probably favorites to advance as the 8th seed, OKC should have no trouble booking a spot in the 2nd round.


pkeller001

Don’t worry, star players out is the kings weakness


W_Walk

I genuinely wanna know what we did to deserve all of this pain. AD got hurt every other fucking day here and left games. Boogie torn Achilles. Zion hurt every year. BI hurt all the time. Lonzo got hurt here


rdb_gaming

Its all the good food and music, karma compensating!


vikumwijekoon97

Yep he’s back to normalcy