Pelicans Roll Out Double-Point-Guard Experiment With Murray and Fears

The New Orleans Pelicans are rolling out a starting five on Wednesday that looks like a 2K MyLeague simulation where you accidentally hit auto-generate. According to Underdog NBA, Dejounte Murray, Jeremiah Fears, Trey Murphy III, Zion Williamson, and Yves Missi are getting the nod.

For anyone firing up player props, this double-point-guard backcourt is the immediate puzzle. You have an established veteran trying to prove his body still works sharing the floor with a 20-year-old kid who needs the ball to be effective.

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Fears quietly put up 14.3 points and 3.4 assists a night last season while New Orleans was busy winning a grand total of 26 games. Now he is starting next to Murray, who managed 16.7 points and 6.4 assists in his brief 14-game return window from an Achilles tear last spring.

Starting two lead guards alongside Zion and a rim-running center in Missi is certainly a choice. It is the basketball equivalent of putting two steering wheels in a sports car and hoping they both decide to turn left at the exact same time.

The Pelicans are sitting at 2-0 after a tight 107-106 win over the Washington Wizards and a gritty 101-97 victory against the Dallas Mavericks. They are winning early, but they still need to figure out their long-term offensive hierarchy to avoid repeating last year's lottery-bound disaster class.

We will see how the touches actually shake out against the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night. If Murray and Fears can share the rock without stepping on each other's toes, New Orleans might actually be a problem in the West.

If they cannot figure out the spacing, things are going to get clunky fast. Until this rotation proves it can function smoothly in the half-court, treading lightly on Pelicans offensive overs might just be the smartest play on the board.