Pelicans Slated For 18 National TV Appearances
In this story:
The New Orleans Pelicans are an up-and-coming fun team. The NBA certainly thought so and slated the Pels for 18 national television games this upcoming year. With the schedule released in anticipation of the regular season, the Pelicans find themselves as the center of attention. After starting the year on a two-game East Coast trip, the Pelicans will return home for their home opener against the Utah Jazz. Then it's back-to-back national television games against Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks, followed by a playoff rematch against the Phoenix Suns in the desert.
The NBA made sure the New Orleans were a part of some juicy matchups to be featured on national broadcasts. The Pelicans will face off against the defending champion Golden State Warriors, the Los Angeles Lakers, and fellow upstart Memphis Grizzlies.
They have two nationally available tilts with the Denver Nuggets and games versus the Atlanta Hawks and Cleveland Cavaliers. 16 of the 18 national broadcast games will see the Pelicans square off against teams who at least made the Play-In Tournament last season. The only game that does not is in March at Portland.
The Trail Blazers figure to be significantly better with the return of Damian Lillard this season, and it will mark another return to Portland for CJ McCollum.
Eleven games will be broadcast on ESPN and TNT, respectively. By comparison, the Pelicans had nine national television games broadcast by those channels last season. Adding two more games this year shows what the league thinks the Pelicans will do, building upon last season's success. It will be a nice gauge to see where the Pelicans match up against annual playoff contenders.
The Pelicans hope to be soon included in this bunch. The remaining seven games will be broadcast on NBA TV.
Part of changing the narrative about an organization's culture is winning. The Pelicans took a big step forward last season by making the playoffs and taking the heavily favored Phoenix Suns to six games.
That was all done without arguably its best player Zion Williamson not logging a single minute of game time last season. Williamson is healthy and ready to prove his naysayers wrong. He and his teammates will have plenty of chances on the big stage in front of a national audience.
Read More Pelicans News:
- Report: LAPD Kneeling on Pelicans' Jaxson Hayes Broke Policy
- CJ McCollum Getting Keys To Offense, New Contract
- Pelicans Ready For Brandon Ingram's Record-Breaking Season
- Brandon Ingram Reveals New Logo
- Birmingham Squadron Name New General Manager
- Where Zion Chose to Sign His Contract Spoke Volumes
- What Can the Pelicans Expect from E.J. Liddell?
- Christian Green is MasterChef On Call For Zion Williamson
- Pelicans Give Update On E.J. Liddell's ACL Surgery
