New Orleans Pelicans

Six playoff trips since 2013 have produced just one series win, against the Portland Trail Blazers in 2018.

The franchise arrived in Louisiana in 2002, when George Shinn moved the Charlotte Hornets south, and spent its early years shuttling identities: New Orleans Hornets, then New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets after Hurricane Katrina forced a relocation, then back to New Orleans full-time in 2007 before the Pelicans name took over in 2013. The one division title the club has to show for that whole stretch came in 2007-08, still under the Hornets banner.

Chris Paul carried the Hornets era; Anthony Davis became the face of the Pelicans name after it changed, before Zion Williamson arrived as the first overall pick in 2019. The number retired above the court belongs to neither of them but to Pete Maravich, who wore it for the New Orleans Jazz years before this franchise existed.

Home games at the Smoothie King Center carry a navy, gold and red palette built from local references: blue lifted from the Louisiana state flag, gold shared with the Saints, red standing for fraternity.

Division rivalries with Houston, Dallas, Memphis and San Antonio supply the schedule's edge, and the Memphis matchup carries an extra layer now that Zion Williamson faces Ja Morant, a former AAU teammate taken one pick after him in that same 2019 draft. No nickname has attached itself to the fixture.