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The New Orleans Pelicans have fired head coach Alvin Gentry, ESPN reported Saturday afternoon. The Pelicans finished the season 30-42, failing to make the play-in tournament inside the NBA bubble in Orlando. The Pels limped to a 2-6 record inside the bubble despite having a healthy roster that was stacked with young talent.
The New Orleans Pelicans have dismissed coach Alvin Gentry, sources tell @wojespn and me.
— Andrew Lopez (@_Andrew_Lopez) August 15, 2020
The Pelicans had signed Gentry to a two-year contract extension after last season, running through the 2020-21 campaign. New Orleans didn’t like what it saw out of Gentry and the team during the restart and now he’ll be looking elsewhere for a job. Gentry finishes his tenure in New Orleans 175-225 after five seasons as head coach.
New Orleans made the playoffs once during Gentry’s tenure, a nice little run in 2017-18 in which Anthony Davis basically carried the team. The Pels sweeped the Trail Blazers before getting defeated by the Golden State Warriors in five games in the second round. That was the one bright spot for Gentry’s time in New Orleans, which should have been extended given the amount of talent he had after the team selected Zion Williamson.
So instead of going ahead with Gentry, the Pelicans will look for a new coach to lead Zion, Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball and the rest of the team’s young core into the future, which again, should be very bright.