NEW ORLEANS — The New Orleans Pelicans are parting ways with assistant coach Teresa Weatherspoon, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic.
Weatherspoon, a basketball Hall of Famer who won a national title at Louisiana Tech in 1988 and a five-time all-star and two-time Defensive Player of the Year in the WNBA, had been part of the Pelicans organization since 2019 and was promoted to assistant coach in 2020.
Pelicans star Zion Williamson had credited Weatherspoon for helping him during his recovery process from his broken right foot that caused him to miss the entirety of his 2021-2022 season.
“She saved me from so many kind of like mental breakdowns. When you see somebody cry for you because of what you’re going through—she cried for me. She didn’t have to do that...And just seeing that made me realize, Wow, I really have somebody special in my corner,” Williamson said in a 2022 interview with Sports Illustrated.
In addition to her playing career in college and the WBNA, Weatherspoon coached the Louisiana Tech women's basketball team from 2009-2014. In those five years, she compiled a 90-69 head coaching record.
The Pelicans are entering an offseason of uncertainty after a strong start to the 2022-2023 season was upended by a January injury to Williamson that would ultimately keep him out for the remainder of the season.
The Pelicans would finish the regular season as the 9th seed in the Western Conference and would fall to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the play-in game.
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