On Friday night, the Houston Rockets lost to the Dallas Mavericks in both teams’ Emirates NBA Cup opener, leaving the Memphis Grizzlies as the league’s last remaining undefeated team. It was a position the young Grizzlies weren’t expected to be in at the start of the season.
Memphis will have an opportunity to improve its record to 7-0 tonight when it hosts the New Orleans Pelicans at 8 p.m. ET. A victory would set a new record for the best start in franchise history; the 2014/15 Grizzlies picked up their first loss in their seventh game of the season after the Milwaukee Bucks’ Brandon Knight made an and-one layup.
Memphis has two players on its injury report tonight, as Quinten Post (ankle) is out and Scotty Pippen Jr. (back) is questionable. For New Orleans, Yves Missi (knee) and Jordan Poole (ankle) remain out, with Malik Dia (G-League) and Jaron Pierre Jr. (G-League) doubtful and Trey Murphy III (knee) and Julian Reese (G-League) probable.
The Grizzlies are 5.5-point favorites on DraftKings Sportsbook (-196 Moneyline), with the point total set to 233.5. The Pelicans are +164 on the Moneyline.
Below, I’ll break down this all-Southern contest and offer a prediction.
New Orleans Pelicans at Memphis Grizzlies preview, prediction
New Orleans finally picked up its first win of the season on Thursday, drubbing the league-worst Sacramento Kings, and it followed it up with a comfortable victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday. Despite their 2-4 record, the Pelicans have had plenty of promising signs, as Zion Williamson leads the league in steals while adding an efficient 20.7 points per game and Derik Queen looks like the starting center of the future. New Orleans has had the 16th-best offensive rating and the 13th-best defensive rating, so it’s arguably gotten unlucky to be below .500.
Meanwhile, Memphis’ 6-0 start can be tied to a few breakout stars. Cameron Boozer has already made a massive impact as a rookie despite shooting just 37.6% from the field, and Ty Jerome is averaging a team-leading 25.8 points per game despite coming off of back-to-back rough performances. Zach Edey’s stats are more muted, but his on/off numbers are spectacular, thanks to his size, touch, and relative mobility. I’m not sure that it’s sustainable for the Grizzlies to finish the season with the third-best offense and the second-best defense, given that they’ve faced some relatively favorable opponents, but they’re basically a 50-50 bet to make the playoffs at this point.
Pelicans at Grizzlies pick, best bet
No team has gotten to the rim more effectively than the Pelicans have this season, and only two teams have attempted fewer tries near the basket than Memphis. Thanks to Williamson’s relentless drives and New Orleans’ frequent double-big looks, it has averaged 22.6 more points per game in the restricted area than the Grizzlies have. However, the Pelicans have given it right back on the other end, allowing the ninth-most close-range tries in the league and the third-highest percentage on such looks after being similarly poor in such situations in 2025/26. Memphis has a massive advantage defensively, allowing the fourth-fewest restricted-area tries per game and holding opponents to the 12th-lowest percentage, as opponents have shot just 56.0% within six feet of the basket with Edey defending them.
Miscellaneous factors should break mostly evenly. As might be expected for a team with a seven-foot-three behemoth manning the middle and a six-foot-10 power forward who led the ACC in rebounds per game last season, the Grizzlies rank second in the league in rebounding percentage, although New Orleans has been no slouch, ranking ninth. The Pelicans have scored among the most points per game off of turnovers, but their sloppiness with the ball should allow Memphis to have the overall advantage in the transition game. For the second straight season, New Orleans has been more disciplined and better at getting to the charity stripe, as Edey’s propensity for fouls is one of his biggest weaknesses.
The Grizzlies can get back in the game through their shooting. They’ve done an excellent job generating easy looks so far this season, attempting the fourth-most wide-open threes per game, while the Pelicans have gotten uncontested triples at a below-average clip. Although Cedric Coward won’t shoot 61.9% from deep for the entire season — he shot 33.8% as a rookie in 2025/26 — I trust Memphis’ shooters more, especially given Jerome’s propensity to knock down difficult shots and the fact that New Orleans effectively ran back the same roster that finished 24th in three-point percentage last season. Additionally, the Grizzlies have allowed slightly fewer wide-open threes per game than the Pelicans have and have benefited slightly less from shooting luck.
If the Pelicans play like they did against the Hawks, they could end Memphis’ winning streak. However, they benefited from quite a bit of shooting luck that game, going seven-for-17 (41.2%) from deep and holding Atlanta to eight-for-46 (17.4%), and the Hawks don’t have the rim protection that Memphis does. While the Grizzlies are well-equipped to stop New Orleans’ Plan A, they like to take non-restricted paint shots, and the Pelicans have allowed the fifth-highest mark on such looks so far this season after ranking third-to-last in that stat in 2025/26. Jerome will treat New Orleans to a flurry of floaters for the entire game as Memphis’ lead slowly expands.
