NBA Rumors: 3 New Orleans Pelicans Who Won't Be Back in 2025-26

Now that the NBA's regular season has come to an end, the futures of many players around the league will start to be in question. We'll glance around teams throughout the league over the next several weeks, looking at players on each roster who won't be returning for the 2025-26 season.

We'll start with a team that has one of the biggest names in the sport unlikely to return, though it'll be a difficult decision in The Big Easy.

The Pelicans had a disastrous campaign, from start to finish, with a number of devastating injuries and other factors landing the team in second-last place in the Western Conference at 21-61, with the 4th-worst record in the NBA, and 2nd-worst in franchise history.

3 New Orleans Pelicans who won't be back next season

Zion Williamson

This will be a franchise-altering decision. After the hiring of Joe Dumars on Tuesday as the new president of basketball operations, it's being reported by Clutch Points that "the most powerful decision-makers in New Orleans are apparently fed up with Williamson's constant off-court drama," not to mention the lack of time spent on the court, and the hiring of a new basketball ops boss was contingent on said person shopping Zion for the best deal he can find.

According to the report, three of the four "plans of action" this offseason involve sending Williamson to a new city. The former No. 1 overall pick has missed 258 out of 472 regular-season games since he was drafted — meaning he's played in only 45% of his team's games.

Jose Alvarado

He has been a fan favorite in New Orleans at times, and he'll be on a very team-friendly deal for the next two years at $9M ($4.5M AAV). But with the recent signing of a truly excellent creator in Elfrid Payton, Alvarado doesn't bring anything to the table as a backup point guard that the Pels are in desperate need of.

Payton, a former first-round pick, re-emerged this season as a legit backup playmaker, after averaging 8.1 assists in his 18 games with New Orleans, earning himself a two-year deal.

Jeremiah Robinson-Earl

Now a free agent, the 24-year-old big man may have run his course in New Orleans, and the record for futility that he set last Friday might be his lasting legacy with the Pelicans. In a 49-point loss to the Miami Heat, JRE registered the worst single-game plus/minus in NBA history with a minus-58.

the worst +/- in a game in NBA history now belongs to Jeremiah Robinson-Earl pic.twitter.com/jNnam2cBaP
— 𝙎𝙠𝙮𝙚𝙙 🇦🇺 (@SkyedOKC) April 12, 2025

Obviously, that's all not on him, but it's just another indication that many changes on this roster are needed.

Metrics think Jeremiah Robinson Earl is one of the worst players in NBA history but his eye test is honestly good
— red (@redfIxvor) February 14, 2025