NEW ORLEANS — The New Orleans Pelicans will report for Media Day on Monday, September 28, before opening training camp on Tuesday, September 29. There will be new faces everywhere, but none will matter more than the one at the front of the room.
Jamahl Mosley is beginning his first camp as the Pelicans’ head coach. He inherits a roster with real offensive talent, multiple high-upside young players and enough depth to create legitimate competition for minutes. He also inherits the urgency that comes with a 26-56 finish and another season outside the playoffs.
This camp is not simply about installing a system. It is about establishing standards for a team that has spent too much time being defined by injuries, inconsistency and unrealized potential.
New Orleans has doubled down on some of its core pieces, added proven scoring to the wing rotation, reshaped the backcourt and used its final two-way opening on a productive young rebounder just days before camp. The front office has given Mosley options. Now the coach must turn those options into a coherent rotation.
A Fresh Start Under Jamahl Mosley
The Pelicans hired Mosley after five seasons in Orlando, where he helped build a young roster into a playoff team and developed a reputation for demanding defense, effort and accountability. Orlando reached the postseason in each of Mosley’s final three seasons and won two Southeast Division titles.
That background fits what New Orleans needs.
The Pelicans scored 115.5 points per game last season but allowed 120.0, finishing near the bottom of the league defensively. Mosley’s first job is not to reinvent every player on the roster. It is to create a dependable defensive identity and make the team’s effort portable from one night to the next.
He has building blocks. Herb Jones remains one of the NBA’s most disruptive perimeter defenders. Trey Murphy III has the length to defend multiple positions. Dejounte Murray can pressure the ball and create deflections. Yves Missi and Derik Queen give the coaching staff two young big men with different strengths.
The challenge will be connecting those pieces around Zion Williamson, whose health, conditioning and defensive engagement remain central to the franchise’s direction.
The Latest Move: Julian Reese Gets the Final Two-Way Spot
The Pelicans made one more move before camp, signing forward Julian Reese to a two-way contract on September 24.
Reese, a 6-foot-9 former Maryland standout, appeared in 13 games for Washington last season and averaged 11.8 points and 10.5 rebounds. His rebounding and interior activity give the Pelicans another developmental frontcourt option who can split time between New Orleans and the Laketown Squadron.
The agreement also adds a local connection. Reese is the younger brother of former LSU star and WNBA standout Angel Reese.
Reese joins Malik Dia and Jaron Pierre Jr. as the Pelicans’ three two-way players. His arrival came two days after New Orleans waived camp signee Solomon Washington, who is expected to continue his development with Laketown.
That sequence shows how quickly the margins of the roster can change at this point of the calendar. The guaranteed rotation may draw the headlines, but the Pelicans are also using camp to stock the organization with young, athletic players who can grow in the G League.
Saddiq Bey’s Extension Removes a Major Question
The most important late-offseason commitment came on September 18, when New Orleans agreed to a three-year, $55.5 million extension with Saddiq Bey. The fully guaranteed deal runs through the 2029-30 season and reportedly includes a trade kicker.
Bey earned the commitment after averaging 17.7 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 72 games during his first season with the Pelicans. He started 64 times and supplied badly needed size, availability and perimeter scoring.
The extension gives New Orleans another prime-age wing under long-term control alongside Murphy and Jones. It also gives Mosley a player who can space the floor around Williamson, punish smaller defenders and hold up physically against bigger forwards.
The camp question is not whether Bey will play. It is how Mosley will balance him with Murphy, Jones and the other scoring wings. If all three start, the Pelicans will have size and shooting across the front line. If one shifts to the bench, New Orleans could stagger its best wings and maintain scoring throughout the game.
Bennedict Mathurin Brings Needed Scoring Pressure
New Orleans officially signed Bennedict Mathurin to a two-year, $16 million contract that includes a player option. It may prove to be one of the offseason’s better value bets.
Mathurin averaged 17.6 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists across 54 games with Indiana and the LA Clippers last season. He attacks the rim, draws fouls and gives the Pelicans another player who can generate offense without waiting for a perfect set.
That matters for a team that too often became stagnant when its primary creators were unavailable.
Mathurin’s fit will be one of the most interesting camp experiments. He can play beside Murray, Jeremiah Fears or Jordan Poole, and he has enough scoring punch to lead the second unit. But the minutes will have to come with defensive discipline, quick decisions and a willingness to move without the ball.
If Mosley can get consistent two-way effort from Mathurin, the Pelicans will have a powerful bench weapon and a potential closing option.
The AJ Johnson Trade Reshapes the Backcourt
The Pelicans also made a September trade with Memphis, acquiring 21-year-old guard AJ Johnson and veteran big man Taj Gibson for Jordan Hawkins, Micah Peavy, a future second-round pick and a future second-round pick swap.
Gibson was waived the following day and later retired, but Johnson remains an intriguing developmental play. The 2024 first-round pick is still raw, yet his size, speed and playmaking flashes give Mosley another long-term option in a crowded guard room.
The cost was meaningful. Hawkins was a former lottery pick with elite movement-shooting potential, while Peavy had established himself as a useful young defender. Moving both players suggests New Orleans wanted a different kind of upside and greater flexibility in the backcourt.
Johnson is unlikely to walk into a featured role. Murray, Fears, Poole and Mathurin are all ahead of him in the immediate rotation, while Kobe Bufkin will try to turn a strong Summer League into a roster spot. Camp will reveal whether Johnson can defend well enough and make fast enough decisions to earn minutes now, or whether most of his early development will happen outside the main rotation.
More Depth, More Competition
The Pelicans’ summer was not built around one blockbuster. It was a series of moves designed to give the coaching staff more choices.
Trendon Watford signed a one-year, $2.9 million deal after averaging 6.5 points and 3.3 rebounds for Philadelphia. The former LSU forward can handle the ball, pass and play either frontcourt spot in smaller lineups.
New Orleans also added or retained several players who will compete around the edges of the rotation, including Kobe Bufkin, Caleb Houstan, Christian Koloko, Bryce McGowens and veteran center DeAndre Jordan. Not all of them will have the same contractual security, which should make the final days of camp especially competitive.
The roster now has legitimate positional battles:
- Lead guards: Dejounte Murray, Jeremiah Fears, Jordan Poole, AJ Johnson and Kobe Bufkin
- Wings: Trey Murphy III, Herb Jones, Saddiq Bey, Bennedict Mathurin, Bryce McGowens and Caleb Houstan
- Bigs and hybrid forwards: Zion Williamson, Yves Missi, Derik Queen, Karlo Matkovic, Christian Koloko, DeAndre Jordan and Trendon Watford
- Two-way players: Malik Dia, Jaron Pierre Jr. and Julian Reese
Those groups are not a projected depth chart. They are the menu Mosley will use to build one.
Dejounte Murray Expected to Be Ready
One encouraging health development is the expectation that Murray will be a full participant when camp begins.
Murray returned from a ruptured right Achilles after last season’s All-Star break and worked his way back toward a normal workload. His availability changes the shape of the roster. He can organize the offense, defend at the point of attack and allow Fears and Poole to play in more favorable roles.
The Pelicans do not need Murray to win camp. They need him to leave it healthy, comfortable and in command of the offense.
Williamson will draw even more attention. His talent remains unquestioned, but availability and consistency will determine the team’s ceiling. Mosley must find an offensive structure that maximizes Williamson’s downhill force while demanding quicker reads, better spacing and reliable effort on the other end.
Five Questions That Will Define Camp
1. What will Mosley’s defensive identity look like?
New Orleans has enough individual defenders to improve, but improvement will require a system the players trust. Watch the ball-screen coverages, transition defense and communication between the young centers and veteran guards.
2. Who starts in the backcourt?
Murray appears to be the natural lead guard, but Fears, Poole and Mathurin all need touches. Mosley must decide whether he wants another creator beside Murray or more defense and size around him.
3. Can Zion anchor a dependable offensive system?
Williamson’s pressure at the rim can bend an entire defense. The Pelicans must use that gravity to create clean three-point looks and easy decisions, not possessions that become predictable late in the clock.
4. How will the young bigs divide the minutes?
Missi brings rim protection and vertical athleticism. Queen offers scoring touch and passing. Matkovic and Koloko add different forms of size, while Jordan provides veteran insurance. Camp performance could dramatically change the frontcourt hierarchy.
5. Who wins the final standard-roster jobs?
Bufkin, Houstan, Koloko, McGowens and other fringe-rotation players will be judged on fit as much as production. Shooting, defense, special-teams effort and the ability to function without high usage will decide the last spots.
The First Tests Arrive Quickly
The Pelicans open the preseason against Oklahoma City at the BOK Center on October 6. They will also visit Miami and Dallas before hosting Washington in the preseason finale on October 16.
The regular season begins at home against the Indiana Pacers on October 21.
That gives Mosley only a short runway to install his principles, settle the rotation and establish habits. The preseason results will matter less than the process: defensive communication, pace, shot quality, turnover control and the health of the core.
What a Successful Camp Would Look Like
A successful camp will not solve every question. It will create clarity.
The Pelicans need to leave camp knowing who initiates the offense, which five-man groups can defend, how Williamson and Murray will share creation duties and which young players have earned real responsibility. They need an identity stronger than their injury report and a rotation built around complementary skills rather than name recognition.
There is talent here. Murphy, Jones and Bey form a versatile wing group. Mathurin and Poole can score. Fears, Queen, Missi and Johnson offer developmental upside. Murray brings veteran playmaking, and Williamson remains the player capable of changing the team’s entire trajectory.
But talent has never been the only question in New Orleans.
For the first time under Mosley, the Pelicans will begin answering the harder ones: Can they defend every night? Can their best players stay available? Can the young core develop while the team competes? And can a roster filled with options finally become a team with a clear identity?
Training camp is where that work begins.
Sources
- New Orleans Pelicans 2026-27 schedule — NBA.com
- Bennedict Mathurin agrees to two-year deal with Pelicans — NBA.com
- Saddiq Bey agrees to contract extension — Reuters
- Pelicans acquire AJ Johnson and Taj Gibson from Grizzlies — Reuters
- Pelicans sign Julian Reese to two-way deal — Crescent City Sports
- Pelicans sign Trendon Watford — Blazer’s Edge
- Dejounte Murray expected to participate fully in camp — RotoWire