The New Orleans Pelicans have fired head coach Willie Green following a 2-10 start o the 2025-26 NBA season.
“After careful evaluation, we have made the difficult decision to make a change at head coach,” stated Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Joe Dumars. “I have the utmost respect for Willie Green, and I’m sincerely appreciative of his contributions to the Pelicans organization and the New Orleans community. We wish him and his family all the best in the future.”
New Orleans will conduct an extensive search for the new bench boss in the coming weeks. In the meantime, associate head coach James Borrego has been named interim head coach of the franchise. Borrego has previous head coaching experience from his time with the Charlotte Hornets, and has been on a short list of potential head coaches for several clubs in recent months.
“As I have stated, Joe Dumars is in charge of basketball operations decisions, and as one of the best basketball minds in the business, I trust him to make the right decisions for our franchise,” said Pelicans Governor Gayle Benson. “I have tremendous admiration and respect for Willie Green, and I truly appreciate all he has done for our organization over the last few years. This is a tough business and these are difficult decisions. My expectation is to be a winning team that competes for championships, and I remain steadfast in our commitment to building a championship-caliber organization for our players, partners, and above all, our fans.”
Currently riding a 4 game losing streak, New Orleans has been without several of their top players for long stretches of the season already. Forward Zion Williamson has been limited to just 5 games due to a hamstring injury, guard Jordan Poole is out with a quad injury, and Dejounte Murray has yet to resume basketball activities following an Achilles injury suffered last season.
While some have been quick to write off the Pelicans in 2025-26 due to their injuries and slow start, the team unfortunately doesn’t have the luxury of bottoming out and reloading for next year. New Orleans traded an unprotected 2026 1st round pick on draft night for the 13th overall selection, which they used on Derik Queen. That means the club has little to gain by throwing in the towel, even in the ultra competitive Western Conference.
Green wraps up his time in New Orleans with a 148-180 (.451 win percentage) regular season record, and 2 playoff wins (8 losses) since taking over the role in 2021. His departure comes only a few months after the franchise parted ways with David Griffin back in April, replacing him with Dumars.
Up next for New Orleans is a Sunday night clash with the Golden State Warriors at 7pm ET.
Photo: Msarhan13. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.