New Orleans — Two more weeks. Six more games. That’s all the Pelicans have left of this incredibly bizarre and disappointing season.
But who’s counting?
Everyone, actually.
No one said it after practice Wednesday, but it was all over players faces, in their body language, and in their tone answering questions from the media they clearly didn’t feel like answering. Tone is substantive. Body language is substantive. No one has to say they’re ready for this season to be over. We can all see it.
But can you blame them?
The Pelicans have now lost 9 of their last 10 games. They are (31-45), are the 4th worst team in the Western Conference, and have the 9th worst record in the league. They’re not making the playoffs, their star player wants out, their general manager was fired and the list of injured players on their roster seems to get longer every game.
“It started-off very well,” Anthony Davis said. “Injuries obviously killed us again. I think we gave away a lot of games we should have won but you can’t do anything about it now. Just finish these last 6 games off strong and try to finish on a good note.”
“It’ll be tough but I mean, next man up,” Elfrid Payton said. “We’ve got a lot guys here that can make plays. We’ve been dealing with stuff all season so this is no different. We’ll be good to go.”
And then there’s the latest update on AD. He was asked if he’d started saying his goodbyes. This was his response:
“I’m still here,” Davis said. “I could possibly be here next year. I didn’t tell anyone goodbye. When the season’s over, I won’t see these guys for a while so there will be goodbye there, but I’m not sure what’s going to happen.”
Wait, what? Now we’re talking about Davis being here next year?
“I mean, I have another year on my contract here so…” Davis said. “If the Pelicans don’t decide to trade me then obviously I am.”
For now though, we’ll just stick to the facts: Two more weeks. Six more games.
