The New Orleans Pelicans have fired general manager David Griffin, the team announced Monday. Griffin, who won a championship building the 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers, took over the Pelicans before the 2019-20 season. However, a rash of injuries and several coaching changes ultimately doomed his once-promising tenure in New Orleans. The news of Griffin’s firing comes one day after the Pelicans finished the 2024-25 season with the fourth-worst record in the NBA at 21-61.
The Pelicans’ press release announcing Griffin’s ousting did not mention coach Willie Green. Green was considered to be on the hot seat after the dismal season, but his job appears safe for now.
Griffin was one of the most sought-after executives in basketball when he surprisingly became available in 2018, following a breakdown in extension talks with Cleveland. He took over the Pelicans a year later and immediately won the 2019 NBA Draft lottery, which gave New Orleans the chance to draft Zion Williamson. As a player, Williamson has mostly lived up to the billing. The trouble is that he has barely ever been available to play for the Pelicans. He has played just 214 regular-season games in six years in New Orleans and only 30 in 2024-25. Williamson has three years remaining on his current contract, but his future with the organization is a constant question.
“After considerable thought and evaluation, I have decided to relieve David Griffin of his duties as executive vice president of basketball operations,” Pelicans owner Gayle Benson said in a statement. “This was a difficult decision, but one that I feel is necessary at this time to bring a fresh approach to our front office and build a culture that will deliver sustainable success, on and off the court. I am committed to hiring the right person to lead our basketball operations department and deliver an NBA Championship to our city. That is what our fans deserve. I am truly appreciative of David for his leadership and many contributions to the Pelicans organization and the New Orleans community over the last six years. We wish David and his wife, Meredith, and their family all the best moving forward.”
Injuries have been a persistent theme in New Orleans even outside of Williamson. Brandon Ingram, the centerpiece of the Anthony Davis trade, had also struggled to stay healthy. The Pelicans were forced to trade Ingram for a meager return at this year’s deadline rather than let him walk for nothing in free agency. Dejounte Murray, this year’s major addition, tore his Achilles midway through the year.
Griffin has also cycled through coaches in his role in New Orleans. When he took over the team, he inherited Alvin Gentry as his head coach. He fired him after one season, hired Stan Van Gundy, and and then fired him after only one year. Green has been his head coach ever since, and in that time, the Pelicans have not won a playoff series.
Griffin generally built talented rosters in New Orleans. He drafted extremely well, landing key players like Trey Murphy, Herb Jones, Jose Alvarado and Yves Missi outside of the lottery. However, he not quite got the mix right, and he never built a team capable of surviving Williamson’s frequent absences. The result is a tenure with the Pelicans that once seemed like it would yield consistent contention, but ultimately amounted to far less.
This news was originally published on this post .
About the author
Red Bull fined €50k after trying to remove Norris’ grid tape
A pre-race rules breach for which Red Bull were fined at the United States Grand Prix involved a team member attempting to remove tape guiding McLaren driver Lando Norris to his grid position.Red Bull were fined 50,000 euros by the FIA after the stewards found that a member of the team had "re-entered the gate well area at Gate 1 in proximity of the second grid position," which belonged to Norris on Sunday at the Circuit of The Americas, after the cars had pulled away for the formation lap. Red Bull's Max Verstappen won the race from pole position, following his Sprint victory on Saturday, to complete a dream weekend in which the Dutchman gained 23 points on world championship leader Oscar Piastri to close to within 40 points of the McLaren driver with five rounds remaining.Norris lost a place […]
4. Pleite in Folge! Wirtz nur auf der Bank! – Liverpool hat das „Real Madrid“-Problem
Nach dem schwachen Saisonstart des FC Liverpool hat Vereinslegende Jamie Carragher klare Worte gefunden – und dabei nicht etwa Versäumnisse einzelner Spieler der „Reds“ in den Vordergrund gestellt, sondern Trainer Arne Slot (46) direkt in die Pflicht genommen!Liverpool investierte im Sommer Hunderte von Millionen von Euro in neue Top-Transfers, darunter Florian Wirtz (22) und Alexander Isak (25). Doch bisher zahlen sich die Mega-Einkäufe nicht aus – im Gegenteil: In zehn Premier-League-Spielen kommen beide zusammen auf nur eine Vorlage, kein Tor. Und mit der 1:2-Niederlage gegen Manchester United am Sonntag hat der amtierende Meister etwas den Anschluss an die Spitze der Tabelle verloren.Mehr zum Thema<!-->[-->Carragher: „Es ist Unsinn, Wirtz draußen zu lassen!“Carragher kritisierte bei „Sky Sports“, dass Wirtz zuletzt zweimal nur auf der Bank saß: „Die Idee, dass Florian Wirtz nicht in der Liverpool-Elf steht, ist Unsinn. Wenn man 140 Millionen Euro […]
Tawanda Muyeye: ‘Test cricket and playing for England has been a goal of mine for so long’
This article is part of The Athletic’s series marking UK Black History Month. To view the whole collection, click here.The words are delivered without a hint of arrogance but, rather, with self-belief and the assurance that comes with the strength gained from the extraordinary journey he has already undertaken.Advertisement“I don’t just want to play two or three times for England. I want to play at least 50 Tests and have a full international career,” says Tawanda Muyeye when asked about his ambitions for a career that has taken him from Zimbabwe to county cricket with Kent and a place at the top of the order with the all-conquering Oval Invincibles in The Hundred.“Where do I hope to be in five years? I want to be playing in all formats for England and in the IPL, which is the highest level outside […]
Blackhawks’ Frank Nazar, Spencer Knight proving to be worth every cent
CHICAGO — The dollar signs could have been adding up in Chicago Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson’s head.With every Frank Nazar goal and Spencer Knight save, which there have been a lot of early this season, that could have equated to increasingly larger salaries for both players in the future.AdvertisementInstead, Davidson can sit back, watch both players take that next step in their development and feel fortunate he has already taken care of the contracts they would have been due this offseason. With Knight at $5,833,333 for the next three seasons and Nazar at $6.6 million for seven years, the Blackhawks have to feel good about the possibility of having two very team-friendly deals for years to come.Sunday, Nazar and Knight continued to build on their promising starts to the 2025-26 season. Nazar scored the Blackhawks’ lone regulation goal and […]
Newcastle United’s worrying away trends
Audacious. Ingenious. Sublime.Nick Woltemade’s inspired flick at the Amex deserves recognition and it warrants celebration. Few, if any, other Premier League players would have even attempted that finish, never mind executed it so expertly.But Woltemade’s goal stood out even more, beyond its brilliance, because it was very much the exception. Until that 76th-minute equaliser, Newcastle United had created precious few clear-cut chances.AdvertisementThat shortcoming has become a worrying trend, especially away, where Newcastle have now equalled their longest winless run in the Premier League under Eddie Howe. Fourth @premierleague goal for Big Nick 🇩🇪 pic.twitter.com/pN3gdn7Siw — Newcastle United (@NUFC) October 18, 2025Newcastle have played seven top-flight fixtures on the road since their last away victory at Leicester City on April 7 — drawing four and losing three — which matches the seven-game winless streak between October 2023 and January 2024, the […]
Everton’s evolution can only go so far unless key issues are addressed
Everton lack a quality striker. They are short at full-back, particularly on the right. Neither of those sentences are revelatory.Much of the early part of the season has been spent talking about these weaknesses in the squad, something that will continue until they are remedied.Both issues came to the fore again in Saturday’s 2-0 defeat away to Manchester City, a game in which Everton threatened to spring a surprise for nearly an hour, only to surrender meekly in the space of five second-half minutes.AdvertisementWhile they competed up to a point, they did not capitalise on their opportunities. The problem was that few expected them to do so, and the door was always left open to their superior hosts.Up front, Beto spurned chances again. A kind reading would say the cross for his first of the match was slightly in front […]
Related
Red Bull fined €50k after trying to remove Norris’ grid tape
A pre-race rules breach for which Red Bull were fined at the United States Grand Prix involved a team member attempting to remove tape guiding McLaren driver Lando Norris to his grid position.Red Bull were fined 50,000 euros by the FIA after the stewards found that a member of the team had "re-entered the gate well area at Gate 1 in proximity of the second grid position," which belonged to Norris on Sunday at the Circuit of The Americas, after the cars had pulled away for the formation lap. Red Bull's Max Verstappen won the race from pole position, following his Sprint victory on Saturday, to complete a dream weekend in which the Dutchman gained 23 points on world championship leader Oscar Piastri to close to within 40 points of the McLaren driver with five rounds remaining.Norris lost a place […]
4. Pleite in Folge! Wirtz nur auf der Bank! – Liverpool hat das „Real Madrid“-Problem
Nach dem schwachen Saisonstart des FC Liverpool hat Vereinslegende Jamie Carragher klare Worte gefunden – und dabei nicht etwa Versäumnisse einzelner Spieler der „Reds“ in den Vordergrund gestellt, sondern Trainer Arne Slot (46) direkt in die Pflicht genommen!Liverpool investierte im Sommer Hunderte von Millionen von Euro in neue Top-Transfers, darunter Florian Wirtz (22) und Alexander Isak (25). Doch bisher zahlen sich die Mega-Einkäufe nicht aus – im Gegenteil: In zehn Premier-League-Spielen kommen beide zusammen auf nur eine Vorlage, kein Tor. Und mit der 1:2-Niederlage gegen Manchester United am Sonntag hat der amtierende Meister etwas den Anschluss an die Spitze der Tabelle verloren.Mehr zum Thema<!-->[-->Carragher: „Es ist Unsinn, Wirtz draußen zu lassen!“Carragher kritisierte bei „Sky Sports“, dass Wirtz zuletzt zweimal nur auf der Bank saß: „Die Idee, dass Florian Wirtz nicht in der Liverpool-Elf steht, ist Unsinn. Wenn man 140 Millionen Euro […]
Tawanda Muyeye: ‘Test cricket and playing for England has been a goal of mine for so long’
This article is part of The Athletic’s series marking UK Black History Month. To view the whole collection, click here.The words are delivered without a hint of arrogance but, rather, with self-belief and the assurance that comes with the strength gained from the extraordinary journey he has already undertaken.Advertisement“I don’t just want to play two or three times for England. I want to play at least 50 Tests and have a full international career,” says Tawanda Muyeye when asked about his ambitions for a career that has taken him from Zimbabwe to county cricket with Kent and a place at the top of the order with the all-conquering Oval Invincibles in The Hundred.“Where do I hope to be in five years? I want to be playing in all formats for England and in the IPL, which is the highest level outside […]
Blackhawks’ Frank Nazar, Spencer Knight proving to be worth every cent
CHICAGO — The dollar signs could have been adding up in Chicago Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson’s head.With every Frank Nazar goal and Spencer Knight save, which there have been a lot of early this season, that could have equated to increasingly larger salaries for both players in the future.AdvertisementInstead, Davidson can sit back, watch both players take that next step in their development and feel fortunate he has already taken care of the contracts they would have been due this offseason. With Knight at $5,833,333 for the next three seasons and Nazar at $6.6 million for seven years, the Blackhawks have to feel good about the possibility of having two very team-friendly deals for years to come.Sunday, Nazar and Knight continued to build on their promising starts to the 2025-26 season. Nazar scored the Blackhawks’ lone regulation goal and […]
Newcastle United’s worrying away trends
Audacious. Ingenious. Sublime.Nick Woltemade’s inspired flick at the Amex deserves recognition and it warrants celebration. Few, if any, other Premier League players would have even attempted that finish, never mind executed it so expertly.But Woltemade’s goal stood out even more, beyond its brilliance, because it was very much the exception. Until that 76th-minute equaliser, Newcastle United had created precious few clear-cut chances.AdvertisementThat shortcoming has become a worrying trend, especially away, where Newcastle have now equalled their longest winless run in the Premier League under Eddie Howe. Fourth @premierleague goal for Big Nick 🇩🇪 pic.twitter.com/pN3gdn7Siw — Newcastle United (@NUFC) October 18, 2025Newcastle have played seven top-flight fixtures on the road since their last away victory at Leicester City on April 7 — drawing four and losing three — which matches the seven-game winless streak between October 2023 and January 2024, the […]
Everton’s evolution can only go so far unless key issues are addressed
Everton lack a quality striker. They are short at full-back, particularly on the right. Neither of those sentences are revelatory.Much of the early part of the season has been spent talking about these weaknesses in the squad, something that will continue until they are remedied.Both issues came to the fore again in Saturday’s 2-0 defeat away to Manchester City, a game in which Everton threatened to spring a surprise for nearly an hour, only to surrender meekly in the space of five second-half minutes.AdvertisementWhile they competed up to a point, they did not capitalise on their opportunities. The problem was that few expected them to do so, and the door was always left open to their superior hosts.Up front, Beto spurned chances again. A kind reading would say the cross for his first of the match was slightly in front […]
Be the first to leave a comment