Neither the Los Angeles Lakers nor the New Orleans Pelicans will be at full strength on Friday night.
Both clubs are looking to avenge losses. On Wednesday, the 8-4 Lakers got decimated in a measuring-stick game by an Oklahoma City Thunder club missing All-NBA small forward Jalen Williams and All-Defensive guard Luguentz Dort. The Pelicans already rank among the dregs of the Western Conference. They’re 2-9 on the year, and have lost their last three straight.
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Per the league’s latest injury report, 21-time All-NBA superstar Lakers power forward LeBron James will continue to be on the shelf as he rehabs the sciatica injury on his right side and in his lower back. Reserve point guard Gabe Vincent was on the sideline with a sprained left ankle. Rookie forward Adou Thiero, the No. 36 pick out of Arkansas, has been upgraded to questionable to make his NBA debut from a left knee surgery.
New Orleans, meanwhile, will be down two All-Stars. Two-time All-Star power forward Zion Williamson will continue to sit out with a left hamstring strain, while All-Star point guard Dejounte Murray will likely miss most of the year recovering from his right Achilles rupture.
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Pricey Pelicans guard Jordan Poole (left quadriceps strain) and two-way players Trey Alexander and Hunter Dickinson are also unavailable. Alexander and Dickinson are putting in reps with the Birmingham Squadron, New Orleans’ NBAGL affiliate.
Will a Loss Tonight be the End of Willie Green?
Calls have already started for the Pelicans — who do not have the rights to their own suddenly-valuable first-round draft pick next year — to fire head coach Willie Green following the team’s dismal start and the latest Williamson injury. It’s not exactly Green’s fault first-year team president Joe Dumars made some head-scratching transactions over the summer, including his decision to part with said 2026 first-rounder in order to nab the draft rights to center Derik Queen, the No. 13 pick out of Maryland.
“I really like Willie Green, but I hired Joe Dumars to assess our basketball operation,” Pelicans owner Gayle Benson told Jeff Duncan of The Times Picayune in an interview Thursday. “And that’s what he is doing. He is assessing Willie and all the players.”
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