Pelicans’ Problem Isn’t Joe Dumars - It’s Ownership’s Shortsighted Approach

Mandates, Misplaced Loyalty, and the Cost of Ignoring Player Voices

The New Orleans Pelicans aren’t hiring Joe Dumars to fix their problems — they are hiring him to ignore them. By appointing a trusted friend without a formal search, ownership signaled business as usual: prioritizing personal relationships over due diligence, short-term mandates over long-term vision, and financial complacency over ambition. The franchise has never paid the luxury tax — not once in 22 years — and just fielded the worst team in its history as measured by net rating (-9.4). Yet instead of a rebuild, the directive is clear: Trade Zion Williamson, retain a coach in Willie Green who lost the locker room, and hope Dumars’ fading executive legacy — built on his 2004 Pistons title but marred by two decades of irrelevance — can paper over systemic dysfunction. If ownership won’t spend, won’t listen to players, and won’t learn from mistakes, Dumars’ arrival is just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

To be clear: Joe Dumars is by all accounts a good man — respected, principled, and a champion as both player and executive. His hall of fame resume provides ownership with a great deal of confidence in their choice. That still doesn’t excuse ownership for not running a proper search. The pursuit of familiarity is not only lazy, but limiting. Searches can lead valuable insights into market and basketball trends, as well as expose you to the best candidates in the league. The Pelicans chose insulation over innovation. Often this insulation is financially motivated.

The Pelicans consistently draw league-wide scrutiny for cost cutting. It has become an annual tradition to duck the luxury tax and enjoy the eight-figure league redistribution check. Meanwhile, the Pelicans basketball operations staff is often described as among the smallest in the league.

The neglect extends to the very foundation. The Smoothie King Center is the worst arena in the NBA. A needs assessment of the arena found multiple critical systems past their usable life, per reporting by Christian Clark. Following this study, no concrete plans have been provided for the future of the team and the arena.

Instead, we have seen a naked attempt at currying favor with Governor Jeff Landry — noted subsidy opponent. With the lease expiring in 2029, the Pelicans face an uphill battle to get Landry on board to assist with any renovations or enable new construction. It’s no coincidence Landry was seen sharing a suite at the Super Bowl with his political hero, Donald Trump.

And look, political pandering is a necessary component for any professional sports franchise. Seldom does an arena get funded without relationships and deals with local and state government. But ownership’s lack of momentum is also fueled by a looming payday. Rival executives believe the Pelicans are merely waiting out the NBA’s upcoming expansion, which will net them a $300M+ windfall. Multiple league sources inform me that the Pelicans have turned away serious buyers and investors, and perhaps the pending expansion check is a big motivator behind those decisions. It does, however, reveal a paradox: Ownership clings fiercely to control while abdicating the financial commitments that come with it.

It's not like other small markets haven’t seen success. Players, executives, coaches, agents, and family members universally rave about the Oklahoma City Thunder organization – the team with the best record in the league. Sources describe the Thunder as sporting the largest staff payroll in the league, both in quantity and salary per person. Their analytics department alone draws comparisons to major league baseball teams. Moreover, the Thunder go above and beyond to take care of their staff members, players, and anyone associated with the org. Families get access to top of the line concierge medical services. Even player agents get their hotels paid for visits during the playoffs if their client is on the team. The Thunder make everyone feel incredibly valued.

This is the model Dumars should replicate and be enabled to replicate: Elite staffing, premium facilities, and a culture that retains talent. Instead, Dumars enters the job with additional constraints: the mandates to trade Zion Williamson and keep Willie Green.

Multiple sources have relayed to me that fates of Williamson and Green have been sealed with the hiring of Dumars. Pelicans ownership was livid over Williamson’s recent off-court headlines. One person familiar with ownership’s thinking described this event as the straw that broke the camel’s back. This seems largely hypocritical given their public backing or pursuit of scandalous headline grabbers in Sean Payton, Deshaun Watson, and Alvin Kamara.

Nevertheless, they will be tasking with Dumars for fielding a return on the oft-injured star. It’s quite possible Dumars takes stock of the potentially frigid market and convinces ownership to give him one shot to work with Williamson. ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Dumars is expected to “have candid conversations with star forward Zion Williamson on his direction with the team.” The situation can always change, however, I continue to hear Williamson is gone and Green is here to stay.

Multiple sources tell me that Green has virtually zero player support left in the locker. The team has tuned him out, which was evident during a franchise record number of 40 point losses, after many of which Green referred to his team as “soft”. This mirrors the Saints’ Dennis Allen debacle: ownership clung to a failing leader until backlash forced their hands. Will Green’s fate follow the same delayed, messy timeline?

Earlier this week, there were whispers that Green can be a candidate for the Phoenix Suns job opening, as reported by

Marc Stein

and

The People's Insider

. But would the Benson group – who treat loyalty as liturgy – let him leave? Green getting hired by another team would save ownership the cost of his contract, and perhaps they can receive further compensation from Matt Ishbia. But Green, like Allen before him, is beloved by ownership. So much so that David Griffin seeking permission to dismiss Green earlier this year was a huge factor in the loss of Griffin’s own job. And now Dumars will inherit the lame-duck coach, and perhaps even be told to offer an extension.

On the surface, this presents as fierce loyalty from ownership to their people. They would rather trust their own judgement on coaches than the players sick of playing for them. But this conviction is often a mask for cheapness. Green is one of the lowest paid head coaches in the league. Firing him would mean absorbing the final year of his deal. It also means spending resources on a search while not being committed to paying premium for elite coaches. New Orleans already struggles to attract talent, with former Brooklyn Nets Head Coach, Jacques Vaughn, turning down the very job Green ended up taking — and ownership only limits the pool further.

The Thunder’s success proves that small-market teams can thrive — with investment, patience, and vision. There is a world where Dumars and his wealth of experience can help execute these things. But until Pelicans ownership either sells to someone who cares or has a sudden epiphany about spending, this franchise will remain stuck in the same cycle: sprinting on a treadmill, chasing mediocrity instead of greatness.

Their hiring of Joe Dumars wasn’t a bold move — it was a default setting. No search, no fresh ideas, just a familiar face handed the keys to a decaying operation. And now, Dumars steps into a near-impossible situation: financial constraints, organizational handcuffs, and zero room to modernize. He wasn’t brought in to build a contender. He was hired to babysit a franchise whose owners treat as a passive investment rather than a championship pursuit.