Pelicans Snap Their Summer League Skid While the Queen and Fears Debate Simmers

The New Orleans Pelicans wrapped up their Las Vegas trip this week with something the franchise hadn't produced in three years: a summer league record you could say out loud without wincing. The 82-77 loss to Cleveland on July 15 closed the books at 2-2 — modest anywhere else, borderline historic for a program whose summer squad had dropped 12 straight games dating back to 2023. That's roughly where the New Orleans Pelicans are as an organization in July 2026: coming off a 26-56 season, on their second head coach in nine months, and grateful for small proofs of life. The week still offered a few, along with a simmering debate about the two rookies who spent Vegas in street clothes.

Summer league: two wins and a streak finally snapped

The Vegas ledger, in order: a 105-92 loss to Minnesota on July 9, a 95-91 comeback win over Charlotte on July 11 that ended the years-long skid, an 81-75 wire-to-wire win against Phoenix on July 12, and the finale against the Cavaliers, in which Cleveland's defense held New Orleans to a grim 36 percent shooting.

The individual stories were better than the team ones. Kobe Bufkin, the former Atlanta first-rounder trying to claw back into the league, opened the summer with a 30-point game against the Timberwolves and added 15 against Phoenix before the staff shut him down for the finale — the treatment you give a player you've already seen enough of, in the good sense. Local coverage spent the week arguing he's earned a real shot as a backup guard. Undrafted big Malik Dia had an 18-point, eight-rebound game against the Suns, tiny playmaker Markquis Nowell kept generating offense (20 points and six assists against Minnesota), and 2025 second-rounder Micah Peavy chipped in 16 in the opener. Wing Chris Bell led the finale with 12 efficient points. Nobody played their way into a guaranteed contract, but Bufkin and Dia at minimum complicated the two-way math.

The Queen and Fears decision

The loudest Pelicans storyline in Vegas involved two guys who never checked in. New head coach Jamahl Mosley held both of last year's lottery picks, Derik Queen and Jeremiah Fears, out of summer league entirely, citing workload — the two played 82 and 81 games respectively as rookies. Fair enough, except critics quickly noted they were the only lottery picks outside last draft's top four not on a summer roster, while comparable young players across the league suited up for developmental reps.

The counterargument writes itself, though. Fears didn't look like a player who needs Vegas: he grabbed the starting job three games into his rookie year and closed the season with a genuine flourish, including a 40-point game in April. Queen's rookie season was bumpier — a strong December (15 points, 8.4 rebounds per game) gave way to a late-season slump in minutes and efficiency — and he's the one whose absence from a low-stakes proving ground drew more second-guessing. Either way, both will enter camp as presumptive core pieces, and Mosley's bet is that fresh legs in October beat feedback in July.

A backcourt with too many chairs

The awkward subtext to Fears' emergence is what it means for the veterans. Jordan Poole is due roughly $34 million in the final year of his deal, coming off a rough season (36.5 percent from the field), and spring reporting indicated the front office would explore moving him again this summer — no simple task at that number, which is why buyout and stretch scenarios keep appearing in the discourse. Dejounte Murray, limited to 14 games last season as he worked back from the Achilles tear, has publicly and repeatedly dismissed trade chatter, insisting he's committed to New Orleans — and his on-court numbers when available (16.7 points, 6.4 assists, and a massive on-court offensive rating swing) support keeping him. Murray also holds a player option for 2027-28, which means the club's medium-term backcourt planning runs through him whether or not the rumor mill approves. Add Fears as the incumbent starter and a summer-league audition winner or two, and someone's minutes have to give. How Joe Dumars' front office resolves the Poole question before camp is the most consequential open item on the docket.

Mosley's first full season, and how New Orleans got here

A reset on the mess Mosley inherited: the Pelicans fired Willie Green last November 15 after a 2-10 start, rode out the season under interim coach James Borrego, and were eliminated from playoff contention by late March for a second straight spring. In May, they hired Mosley, the former Magic coach with a strong defensive and player-development reputation, to run the bench full-time — a sensible match for a roster whose best assets are all 23 or younger. His summer league cameo offered little tactical evidence either way, but the workload-management call on his rookies was at least a decision made with conviction. The draft offered no cavalry — the first-round pick conveyed to Atlanta as the final bill for the 2025 draft-night trade that brought Queen to New Orleans, a deal that looked worse with every loss the Pelicans stacked. The roster does return real talent: Trey Murphy III, who hung a 44-point game last season, defensive ace Herb Jones, young center Yves Missi, Saddiq Bey, and veteran DeAndre Jordan back on a one-year deal per league-wide signing trackers.

Zion, year eight, age 26

And then there's the franchise's permanent variable. Zion Williamson turned 26 this month, still the Pelicans' most talented player and still the one on whom every rebuild-adjacent plan quietly depends. The offseason buzz has been the familiar kind — photos of a visibly leaner Williamson making the rounds, columnists noting there's still time for the partnership to work — and the skepticism is equally familiar, because July optimism has never been Zion's problem. What's different now is the supporting logic: with Fears, Queen and Missi, New Orleans finally has a young core that doesn't require Zion to be a savior, just available. A healthy 60-plus-game season from him changes the entire math of the West's basement.

What's next on the New Orleans Pelicans calendar

• August: the full 2026-27 schedule release, plus resolution — or at least movement — on the Poole situation.
• September: two-way and camp-invite decisions, where Bufkin's summer makes him the name to watch.
• Late September: media day and Mosley's first training camp, with a presumptive Fears-Murray backcourt and Zion's conditioning as the headline items.
• October: opening night of a season where "meaningful April games" would count as progress.

Nobody is nominating the New Orleans Pelicans for a summer of fireworks — the week's wins came from castoffs and camp hopefuls, and the roster's biggest questions are the same ones from April. But there's a coherent shape forming under Mosley: Fears running the show, Queen and Missi growing up front, Murphy and Jones providing the two-way spine, and Zion entering his age-26 season with less pressure and better help than he's ever had. The floor in the West is unforgiving and the front office still owes answers on Poole. Still, for a franchise that just snapped a three-year summer league losing streak, direction counts. October will tell us whether it's a trend or a mirage.