Shaquille O'Neal says Pelicans are two years and two players away from Western relevance

The New Orleans Pelicans are very fortunate to have one of the best players in the NBA today in the person of Anthony Davis.

What’s better is he still has to near his peak, and the thought of him realizing his full potential is scary for the rest of the league as it is exciting for the Pelicans.

But the team knows that in a few years time, Davis will have the liberty of choosing his own path when he becomes an unrestricted free agent. So the need to put pieces around their franchise cornerstone is already of great importance.

Hall of Fame center Shaquille O’Neal, perhaps the most dominant force the league has seen, holds ties with the state of Louisiana due to his college years at LSU. So, the NBA legend gave his take on the state of the Pelicans, as tweeted by NOLA.com’s John Reid.

Shaq says Pelicans have done adequate job but are still 2 years, 2 players away from emerging as a serious contending team in Western Conf.

— John Reid (@JohnReid64) September 16, 2016

Outside of Davis, the only young piece that New Orleans has secured for the next few years is rookie Buddy Hield. Jrue Holiday and Tyreke Evans, the two best players outside of Davis, will both become unrestricted free agents after this season.

Of course, the summer of 2017 will be a very busy one for the team’s front office as they will look to pull all strings in order to secure players whom they can use to build a Western Conference contender led by Anthony Davis.