NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - New Orleans Pelicans coach Willie Green was fired Saturday (Nov. 15), after a 2-10 start to his fifth season at the team’s helm.
“After careful evaluation, we have made the difficult decision to make a change at head coach,” Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations Joe Dumars said in a statement. “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.”
Associate head coach James Borrego was named the team’s interim coach.
Green, 44, entered this season on a short leash after guiding the team to only two playoff appearances in his first four years.
Each postseason appearance was short-lived, as the Pelicans lost a six-game playoff series to Phoenix in 2022 and were swept in four games by the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2024.
Green started this season with a 148-180 regular-season record as the Pelicans’ boss. New Orleans went seven games into this season before winning its first game on Nov. 4.
Green followed a 12-year NBA playing career with one year as an assistant coach for Golden State and two with Phoenix. The Pelicans introduced the Detroit native as their head coach on July 22, 2021.
New Orleans started Green’s first season 1-12, before rallying to a 36-46 record that was ninth in the Western Conference and got the team into the NBA play-in tournament. The Pelicans beat the Spurs and Clippers to earn their first playoff berth since the 2017-18 season, before falling to the Suns in their first-round series.
The Pelicans started 23-12 in Green’s second season, but eventually faded to 42-40 and another ninth-place finish as injuries to Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram sapped the team’s strength. Oklahoma City eliminated New Orleans in the play-in tournament that year.
Green posted his best record in his third season, as New Orleans went 49-33 but only finished eighth in a loaded Western Conference. That gave the Pelicans a first-round series against the ascending Thunder, and first-place Oklahoma City swept them in four games.
Another injury-plagued season followed in 2024-25, with Williamson again sidelined much of the year. Green’s fourth season ended with a dismal 21-61 record and no sniff of the playoffs.
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