The Pelicans Are Starting DeAndre Jordan in 2026 and Hitting the Panic Button

There are lineup tweaks, and then there are lineup tweaks that look like a 2K simulation gone horribly wrong. The New Orleans Pelicans are officially rolling out a starting five of Jeremiah Fears, Dejounte Murray, Trey Murphy III, Zion Williamson, and DeAndre Jordan for Wednesday night.

Yes, you read that correctly. In the year of our Lord 2026, DeAndre Jordan is starting an NBA basketball game.

"Lineup alert: Pelicans will start Fears, Murray, Murphy III, Williamson, Jordan on Wednesday."

This is what desperation looks like. New Orleans is sitting at an ugly 0-3 after dropping a 141-135 track meet to the Denver Nuggets on Sunday. They have also taken losses from the Indiana Pacers and Utah Jazz, treating transition defense like a mild suggestion rather than a requirement for winning basketball games.

Throwing Jeremiah Fears into the backcourt with Murray is certainly a choice to shake things up, but putting Jordan next to Zion is a spacing experiment that belongs in a museum. Zion is already a bulldozer who needs a runway, and now he gets to operate in a paint clogged by a traditional drop-coverage center.

For the prop market sickos, this lineup shuffle completely changes the math. Trey Murphy III might need to shoot 15 threes just to keep the floor stretched, and Zion is going to have to take on a massive usage rate to keep pace with Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets' offense.

New Orleans gets Denver again on Wednesday before immediately hosting the Sacramento Kings on Thursday. If this five-man unit cannot find a way to get a single defensive stop, the Pelicans are staring down the barrel of an 0-5 start and a very loud panic button.