New Orleans Pelicans Players: Starting Lineup, Stats & History

First NBA season: 2002-03 · Franchise name since: 2013 · All-time leading scorer: Anthony Davis · Home arena: Smoothie King Center · Franchise single-season wins: 56 (2007-08) (Basketball-Reference’s franchise player history)

Six rows, one pattern: the franchise’s identity has been rewritten twice in two decades, and the records still track back to the Hornets era.

Who is the starting five for the Pelicans?

Ask five Pelicans fans and you’ll get five answers, because the starting five is a projection until opening night. Roster trackers at ESPN and CBS Sports point to Dejounte Murray, Zion Williamson, Jordan Poole, Yves Missi, and Trey Murphy III as the 2026-27 core (ESPN’s Pelicans roster page). Basketball-Reference’s 2025-26 listing adds a second layer of names behind that projected group (Basketball-Reference’s 2025-26 Pelicans roster listing).

Projected 2026-27 starting lineup

• Dejounte Murray (guard): the lead playmaker, listed at 20.3 points and 6.3 assists per game (The Athletic’s Pelicans stats page).
• Jordan Poole (guard) and Yves Missi (center): the projected backcourt and frontcourt anchors around the core (ESPN’s Pelicans roster page).
• Zion Williamson (forward): the primary scorer, listed at 24.6 points per game on the official roster (NBA.com’s official Pelicans roster).
• Trey Murphy III (forward): a two-way wing listed as a forward out of Rice and Virginia (Basketball-Reference’s 2025-26 Pelicans roster listing).

Key bench players

• The same 2025-26 listing adds Kevon Looney (forward-center, UCLA), Trey Alexander, Elfrid Payton, and Brandon Boston Jr. as the next layer (Basketball-Reference’s 2025-26 Pelicans roster listing).
• Looney’s experience is the kind of steadying presence young rotations need.

Roles of the starting guards and forwards

The rotation math is simple: Murray initiates, Poole spaces the floor, Murphy guards the best perimeter threat, Missi protects the rim, and Williamson attacks downhill. The catch: New Orleans has rarely opened a season with all five projected starters healthy, which is why the bench list matters as much as the headline five.

What is the history of the New Orleans Pelicans?

New Orleans Hornets era (2002-2013)

• The franchise began play in 2002 as the New Orleans Hornets, relocated temporarily to Oklahoma City after Hurricane Katrina, and returned full-time in 2007 (Basketball-Reference’s franchise player history).
• The 2007-08 club set the franchise single-season wins record at 56, a mark that still stands (Basketball-Reference’s franchise player history).

The Anthony Davis era

• Anthony Davis arrived as the first overall pick in 2012, became the franchise’s all-time leading scorer, and was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in 2019 (Basketball-Reference’s franchise player history).
• The Davis years gave New Orleans its most complete basketball before injuries and a trade request reset the timeline.

Renaming to Pelicans and recent seasons

• The franchise rebranded as the New Orleans Pelicans in 2013 (Basketball-Reference’s 2025-26 Pelicans roster listing).
• Recent seasons have been defined by turnover: the 2024-25 team finished 21-61 and 14th in the Western Conference (Basketball-Reference’s 2024-25 Pelicans season page).
• That season’s team averages: 109.8 points, 43.6 rebounds, and 25.8 assists per game, shooting 45.2% from the field, 34.7% from three, and 75.4% from the line (Basketball-Reference’s 2024-25 Pelicans season page).

What the stat lines don’t show is how often the roster changed around those numbers; the 2026-27 group is the latest attempt to build something durable.

The pattern: every era of this franchise has been defined by one star and one reset, and the current front office is betting the next era avoids both.

Who played for the Celtics and Pelicans?

The crossover between Boston and New Orleans is short but star-heavy.

Pelicans players with Celtics ties

• Jrue Holiday, Rajon Rondo, and Isaiah Thomas have all played for both franchises; Thomas’s New Orleans line — three games, 23 points — is logged in the franchise archive (Basketball-Reference’s franchise player history).
• Reggie Williams is another short-stint example: six games and 27 points with New Orleans (Basketball-Reference’s franchise player history).

Notable trades between the franchises

NBA transaction records, not rumor boards, are the reliable way to track those moves (NBA.com’s official Pelicans roster).

Shared player history

• The shared history runs from All-Star guards to footnotes: Holiday and Rondo are the big names, while Thomas’s New Orleans run lasted three games and 23 points in the franchise archive (Basketball-Reference’s franchise player history).

For both fan bases, the list is small enough to memorize, which is why a rumor connecting the two teams tends to spread fast.

Why this matters: crossover players are rare because the franchises rarely line up on trades; when a name does connect them, it usually signals a rebuild or a buyout-market move.

Who is the Pelicans’ all-time leading scorer?

Anthony Davis — and the franchise archive makes the margin easy to check.

All-time scoring leaders

• Anthony Davis sits at the top of the franchise points column (Basketball-Reference’s franchise player history).
• The archive ranks every player who appeared for New Orleans and counts only production while with the franchise (Basketball-Reference’s franchise player history).

Single-season scoring leaders

• The franchise’s most cited single-season mark is the 56-win 2007-08 run, not a scoring total (Basketball-Reference’s franchise player history).
• Current-season scoring leaders, by contrast, live on live stat hubs rather than the all-time archive.

Current roster scoring leaders

• Zion Williamson leads the projected group at 24.6 points per game on the official NBA season display (NBA.com’s official Pelicans roster).
• Dejounte Murray follows at 20.3 points per game in The Athletic’s Pelicans stats sample (The Athletic’s Pelicans stats page).

The implication: the all-time leaderboard is a snapshot of past eras; the 2026-27 group is the attempt to build a new one.

What are the New Orleans Pelicans player stats?

The answer depends on the question — per-game averages, season totals, or a single night’s box score.

2026-27 player stats leaders

• Zion Williamson: 24.6 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 5.3 assists per game on the official NBA.com season display (NBA.com’s official Pelicans roster).
• Dejounte Murray: 20.3 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 6.3 assists per game on The Athletic’s Pelicans stats page (The Athletic’s Pelicans stats page).
• The same page tracks games, starts, minutes, points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, shooting, and efficiency for every player (The Athletic’s Pelicans stats page).

Recent 5-game player performance

New Orleans Pelicans player numbers

• The official NBA.com Pelicans roster page lists jersey numbers alongside season and career stats (NBA.com’s official Pelicans roster).
• Numbers change with trades, so the official page — not memory or old screenshots — is the only reliable list.

If you’re hunting a specific player’s number, the official roster loads faster than a search results page and updates the moment a deal posts.

The takeaway: the best stat source depends on the question — the official page for names and numbers, The Athletic for advanced player fields, and Basketball-Reference for history and records.

Pelicans players reference table

Six rows, one pattern: the roster leans on two proven scorers, a two-way wing, and a frontcourt still being assembled.

What this means: the frontcourt is the experiment — two proven scorers in the backcourt, and a rotation of bigs and wings competing for the spots around them.

Pelicans timeline: 2002 to today

Every date below is checked against the same archive that logs every New Orleans-era player (Basketball-Reference’s franchise player history).

• 2002: New Orleans Hornets begin play in the NBA. (Basketball-Reference)
• 2005-07: The franchise temporarily relocates to Oklahoma City after Hurricane Katrina. (Basketball-Reference)
• 2007: The team returns to New Orleans full-time. (Basketball-Reference)
• 2012: Anthony Davis is selected first overall in the NBA draft. (Basketball-Reference)
• 2013: The franchise rebrands as the New Orleans Pelicans. (Basketball-Reference)
• 2019: Anthony Davis is traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. (Basketball-Reference)

The pattern: stability in the name, turbulence in the lineup — every era shift came with a superstar exit or a rebuild.

What’s confirmed, what’s unclear

Confirmed facts

• The franchise began play in 2002 as the New Orleans Hornets (Basketball-Reference’s franchise player history).
• The team was renamed the New Orleans Pelicans in 2013 (Basketball-Reference’s 2025-26 Pelicans roster listing).
• Anthony Davis is the franchise’s all-time leading scorer (Basketball-Reference’s franchise player history).
• The 2024-25 Pelicans finished 21-61, 14th in the Western Conference (Basketball-Reference’s 2024-25 Pelicans season page).

What’s unclear

• The exact 2026-27 starting five may change before opening night (ESPN’s Pelicans roster page).
• Whether a 7 ft 11 player has ever appeared in an NBA game is not confirmed by official league records (NBA.com’s official roster page).
• Allen Iverson’s current net worth is difficult to verify from official NBA records (NBA.com’s official roster page).
• Rotation roles behind the projected starters remain unsettled (Basketball-Reference’s 2025-26 Pelicans roster listing).
• The final 15-man roster can still change before opening night (ESPN’s Pelicans roster page).

The distinction matters: confirmed facts are the bones of any Pelicans argument, and the unclear list is where rumors get their oxygen.

Voices around the franchise

“Player statistics on the franchise player page represent production while each player was with the franchise.”

Basketball-Reference — franchise statistics archive

Season and career statistical fields for listed players — games, points, rebounds, assists — anchor the official Pelicans roster page.

NBA.com — official Pelicans roster

Player-level fields cover the full line: games, starts, minutes, points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, shooting, and efficiency.

The Athletic — Pelicans statistics hub

What all three agree on: the reliable ground for any Pelicans claim is an official or archival stat page, not a social post.

The takeaway

Pelicans fans have watched two rebuilds and one rename in the franchise’s NBA era, and the 2026-27 projection carries the same risk as every version before it: the talent is real, the health history is not. The young core only pays off if the front office protects the rim, the guards share the ball, and the training staff keeps the starters available. For anyone tracking this roster week to week, the choice is clear: bookmark the official Pelicans roster page and the franchise archive, or accept that a rumor board will tell you what happened yesterday.

Frequently asked questions

The FAQ answers stick to the same source set, so the record stays consistent when the roster changes.