Pelicans fire executive vice president of basketball operations Griffin, ending six-year tenure

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The New Orleans Pelicans fired basketball operations chief David Griffin on Monday, ending a six-year chapter during which the club drafted former Duke superstar Zion Williamson but still struggled to win consistently with three different coaches.

Griffin, whose title was executive vice president of basketball operations, leaves his post one day after a 115-100 loss to Oklahoma City that extended the injury-plagued club’s season-ending skid to seven games.

The Pelicans’ 21-61 record — fourth worst in the NBA this season — was the franchise’s second-worst mark since arriving in New Orleans in 2002 and worst since the 2004-05 season, when the club, then called the Hornets, went 18-64.

But the Pelicans’ failures this season — their first in the past four without a postseason berth — appeared less tied to the level of talent on the roster than the health of all of their starters and even prominent reserves.

Injuries were so rampant this season that Griffin never got to watch top players on the team he assembled last summer all play together under the direction of Willie Green, the coach he hired four years ago.

Green’s future remains uncertain and could be decided by Griffin’s yet-to-be-named replacement.

“I haven’t had any discussions, any talks yet,” Green said Sunday when asked about his future with the club. “I didn’t do great. I have to take full ownership of where we are as a team. We failed. I failed.”

But Green said he hoped that the club’s evaluation of him would include the previous three seasons, when New Orleans qualified for the Western Conference play-in and twice advanced to a first-round playoff series.

“I think that’s important. You try to look at the body of work,” Green said. “But I didn’t give myself this job. I had to be chosen for this position, and I’m grateful.”

This season, Williamson missed 52 games because of several injuries, his hamstring strain being the worst of them.

Starting guard Dejounte Murray — seen as the club’s highest-profile acquisition last offseason — missed 51 games because of hand and Achilles injuries.

Herb Jones, recognized as one of the NBA’s top defensive players, missed 62 games with repeated right shoulder injuries.

High-scoring wing Brandon Ingram, who began this season unhappy about the lack of a contract extension he sought, appeared in just 18 games with New Orleans because of an ankle injury before he was traded to Toronto in February.

Trey Murphy III missed 29 games with multiple injuries.

Griffin, who did not speak with media on Sunday, joined the Pelicans in 2019. Shortly afterward, the Pelicans won the NBA’s draft lottery, giving them the opportunity to draft Williamson, the consensus top overall prospect that year.

But what appeared to be good fortune at that time in retrospect looks more like a curse.

Plagued by injuries, Williamson has missed 258 out of 472 regular-season games since he was drafted — and has never appeared in a postseason game.

The Pelicans have a regular season record of 209-263 since Griffin arrived and drafted Williamson, and the club lost both of the first-round playoff series it reached during that period.

This season’s record also was the Pelicans’ worst since team owner Gayle Benson’s late husband, Tom, bought the club in 2012.

Those results have left an air of uncertainty around the coming Pelicans offseason — not just for the front office and coaching staff.

“We truly don’t know who’s going back. I’m just trying to be honest with you,” Murphy said. “Nobody is safe.”

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