NEW ORLEANS — After losing the 9 vs. 10 Western Conference play-in game this week, the New Orleans Pelicans' season is over.
In a new episode of the Locked On Pelicans podcast, host Jake Madison discussed why despite a second-half surge, this season for the Pelicans was a disappointment overall.
“While injuries definitely derailed the season, this team had a chance to make the playoffs," Madison said. "If you have a chance to make the playoffs and you don’t, it’s a disappointment. Despite everything this team has gone through, it was there for the taking, and the Pelicans didn’t rise to the occasion.”
The availability of Zion Williamson once again became the dominant storyline following the team throughout the season after he went out with a hamstring injury in January.
“This has sapped the life out of everybody," Madison explained. "It becomes just this big thing around the team and that is going to always be the dominant storyline.”
Particularly after it seemed Williamson had repaired his relationship with the team's leaders and signed an extension in the offseason, the drama surrounding Williamson was tough for the team and fans to deal with.
“It felt like we had moved on from that, but then you look at all this and Zion’s not playing, but could he? Probably," Madison said. "Is the team holding him back or are they not? Is it a combination of both?”
Because the team came up short and Williamson was unavailable, it gives the end of the Pelicans' season a bad taste of deja vu.
“It just feels like where we were a year ago, and where we were a year before that," Madison said.