Jaxson Hayes is just 21 years old and has only been a pro for three seasons, but following Tuesday’s 123-109 win in Sacramento, the 6-foot-11 power forward sounded like a grizzled NBA veteran, a man who’s already endured a wide array of adversity. In a way, that’s actually very much been the case. Since the summer of 2019, when New Orleans was forced to trade Anthony Davis to the Los Angeles Lakers, the Pelicans have navigated more than their share of difficulties, from significant roster changes, to coaching staff alterations, to key injuries, to poor starts that greatly hampered their chances of reaching the postseason in both 2019-20 and 2020-21.
The 2021-22 season appeared to be heading to a similar, disappointing conclusion when New Orleans started 3-16 under first-year head coach Willie Green, but the Pelicans embraced a positive mindset and began finding ways to win games, going 32-28 since Nov. 24. After Hayes tied career highs Tuesday with 23 points and 12 rebounds against the Kings, New Orleans achieved an initial step toward its season-long goal of reaching the Western Conference playoffs. The Pelicans (35-44) clinched a play-in berth, setting up a win-or-go-home matchup next week vs. San Antonio (34-45). The Spurs also wrapped up their spot Tuesday, simultaneously eliminating the Lakers.
The team’s poor start this season has been an unfortunate reoccurring theme for the Pelicans in recent years. They were 7-23 to begin ’19-20, then went 5-10 out of the gate last season. In both campaigns, New Orleans eventually put together encouraging stretches that boosted hope among fans of a playoff appearance, but it proved to be too little, too late.
“The past three years we’ve always gotten off to a slow start, which is not something to brag about,” said Hayes, himself temporarily removed from Green’s rotation this season, before making enormous strides the past two months. “But whenever you have a new team each year, new coaches, it takes an adjustment time for everyone to get used to each other, coaches, players. I knew we started off bad, but I knew we were going to get it together at some point.”
An early-season Brandon Ingram injury contributed to this season’s rough start, but New Orleans eventually got back into the West play-in conversation by playing plus-.500 ball after he returned in mid-November. Along with Hayes’ vast in-season improvement and the development of other pieces, the Pelicans have benefited from surprisingly large contributions by a second-round pick (starting wing Herbert Jones) and an undrafted two-way contract signee (backup point guard Jose Alvarado). The February trade-deadline deal for CJ McCollum gave New Orleans its best backcourt scorer in years, a nine-year pro who’s helped carry the offense, including a 10-game March stretch in which Ingram was sidelined. The Pelicans still were outside the West’s top 10 prior to their recent surge, but are 8-4 since mid-March. At one juncture this season, it appeared their best-case scenario might be sneaking into the play-in tournament by a hair, but New Orleans managed to secure a spot still with three games left on its schedule, aided by an active Lakers seven-game losing streak.
“It’s definitely gratifying,” Green said of being able to cement a postseason trip Tuesday in Golden 1 Center. “It’s been a journey. We know we still have work to do, but I talked to the guys in the locker room (that) we still have to celebrate these accomplishments. We’re all proud of the work they put in to put ourselves in this position.”
Asked to describe the Pelicans’ locker room after Tuesday’s buzzer, Hayes said, “It was excited. I mean, a lot of us who’ve been here for the past three years were super hyped, because we’ve been working for this for three years, trying to get to this moment. So everyone was really excited. Good energy.”
Amid major roster turnover since the 2019 offseason, Hayes, Ingram and Zion Williamson are the only Pelicans players who’ve been with the franchise for that entire three-year period. From the outside, that might seem like a very brief timeframe, but not as described by Hayes.
“You can see the steps and the past two teams trying to start the foundation, but you can’t build it overnight,” Hayes said. “It takes some time. I feel like this year is the first year we’ve all been on the same page, everyone locked in together.
“For me, (Ingram and Williamson, achieving a team goal of a play-in spot), it’s huge. Everyone who’s been here. Everybody. We’re excited to get to the play-in and try to show off what we can do in the playoffs.”
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Pelicans turnaround, play-in berth part of three-year process filled with adversity - NBA.com
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