The Portland Trail Blazers and New Orleans Pelicans will be finishing their ongoing matchup without key pieces Wednesday night.
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Per Joe Freeman of The Oregonian, reserve Portland combo forward Jerami Grant and Pelicans reserve center Yves Messi got into a physical altercation during the second frame of their game at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans. They were fighting for space beneath the bucket, and things escalated to the point that Missi took hold of Grant’s neck at one point.
After review, officials have ejected Grant and Missi from the game. Also, Shaedon Sharpe and Herbert Jones were given technicals for their involvement in the aftermath … but will remain in the game. https://t.co/atpveqLijG
— Joe Freeman (@BlazerFreeman) November 13, 2025
Trail Blazers shooting guard Shaedon Sharpe and Pelicans forward Herbert Jones were both assessed technicals after they stepped in to abet their respective colleagues. As Freeman notes, both Sharpe and Jones will remain in the bout — for now.
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Underdog NBA has clipped the fight that led to the dual ejections.
Status alert: Jerami Grant, Yves Missi have been ejected Wednesday.pic.twitter.com/DodPZMafPP
— Underdog NBA (@UnderdogNBA) November 13, 2025
In 8:27 off the bench, Grant finishes with two points on 1-of-3 shooting from the field, two rebounds and an assist. Missi wraps up the matchup with one block in 2:03.
Grant may be the most critical bench forward for his team, but Missi — who started much of last season as a rookie — has now been demoted to essentially a third-string option in head coach Willie Green’s rotation, behind rookie Derik Queen and starting center Kevon Looney, a new free agent signing.
At the halftime break, New Orleans paces Portland by a possession, 59-57.
Willie Green Could Be In Trouble
Green finds himself on the hot seat as the Pelicans’ 2025-26 season continues to head south. New Orleans has gone 2-8 to start the year, making the Pelicans the bottom seed in the competitive Western Conference. Without their own draft pick in 2026, they’re ostensibly disincentivized to tank — but their mismatched personnel is bad enough to do that anyway.
It may not be Green’s fault that the Pelicans numbers among the worst clubs in their loaded conference without some key mechanisms to add young talent next year (new general manager Joe Dumars, after all, is the person responsible for the trade to ditch the Pelicans’ unprotected 2026 lottery selection and acquire the rights to Queen from the Atlanta Hawks), but as a coach he’ll likely fall on the sword first.
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