Pelicans weigh future of coach Willie Green after 0-4 start
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The New Orleans Pelicans are holding serious internal discussions about head coach Willie Green following the team’s winless start to the 2025-26 season, league sources told ClutchPoints’ Brett Siegel and Chris Dodson.
Green, now in his fifth year on the bench, kept his position when executive vice president of basketball operations Joe Dumars overhauled the front office and roster during the offseason. The club hoped to rebound from last season’s 21-win campaign, but early results have been discouraging.
New Orleans opened with narrow losses to Memphis and San Antonio, then suffered lopsided defeats—by 32 points to Boston on Monday and by 34 in Denver on Wednesday—dropping the Pelicans to 0-4.
Multiple players have expressed frustration with Green’s lineup choices, according to ClutchPoints. Around the league, there is growing belief the coach has lost the locker room.
The Pelicans visit the Clippers on Friday in Los Angeles and the Thunder on Sunday in Oklahoma City before returning home. A decision on Green’s future could come after that two-game trip, the report said. Assistant coach James Borrego is viewed as the leading candidate to take over if a change is made.
Since being hired in 2021, Green owns a 148-184 regular-season record (.446). New Orleans reached the playoffs twice under his watch, winning 49 games in 2023-24 but exiting in the first round both times—falling to the Suns in six games in 2022 and to the Thunder in a four-game sweep in 2024.
Speaking after Wednesday’s loss at Ball Arena, Green told reporters the team must “dig down and find our identity.” He added, “We have to believe in each other… compete harder, play harder, play more together and the belief has to be there.”
Source: HoopsRumors
