The New Orleans have been nothing if not a headline magnet during the 2018-19 NBA season.
After a strong run in the 2017-18 Western Conference playoffs in which they swept the outmatched and highly seeded Portland Trail Blazers before ultimately falling to the Golden State Warriors in five games, expectations for this team were high after bringing in Julius Randle and Elfrid Payton.
Once the season started, however, the team failed to live up to expectations before trouble began in earnest.
First, the team was heavily involved in the supremely engaging Anthony Davis saga ahead of the trade deadline after AD’s trade request.
After the deal could not be completed due to a variety of reasons, the Pelicans canned longtime General Manager Dell Demps, who was replaced on an interim basis by former Atlanta Hawks GM Danny Ferry.
Now, according to a report from Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the Pelicans have been granted permission to interview a variety of candidates for its GM job.
New Orleans has been granted permission to interview several front office candidates for GM job, including Golden State’s Larry Harris, Brooklyn’s Trajan Langdon and Houston’s Gersson Rosas, league sources tell ESPN. There are more candidates expected to be in the process.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 29, 2019
This is good news for the Pels, as it gives them plenty of time ahead of the 2019 NBA Draft and offseason to get their front office in order. It will likely be the most important offseason in franchise history, thanks to Davis’s likely trade and the potential chance at the no.1 overall pick in the draft – also known as Zion Williamson.
It will be interesting to see which direction the Pelicans ownership takes it GM search, but this immediate list is quite promising.