Pelicans Fan Vote Reveals MVP, Future Stars and the Team's Most Chaotic Personalities
NBA awards season is here, and we wanted to hear from YOU, New Orleans Pelicans fans.
Who is your team's MVP? What about its next first-time All-Star? Which player is on the best contract? How about the worst?
Which player is most likely to have a burner account? Who's the best athlete? And, perhaps most importantly, if you had to choose one player to team up with during a Zombie apocalypse, who's your guy?
You helped us make sense of the Pelicans' season by casting a ballot for each of these awards—and more!
Who Is the Most Valuable Player?
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Winner: Trey Murphy III
Trey Murphy III finished with roughly 500 more total minutes than Zion Williamson while also posting a slightly higher scoring average. That was enough to give him the MVP edge over the former No. 1 overall pick, who stayed impressively healthy by his standards and led the Pels in Box Plus/Minus.
Voters game some value to Saddiq Bey's clutch scoring, but this was a two-man race between Williamson and Murphy. And Murphy won it easily.
Who Is Most Underrated?
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Winner: Saddiq Bey
Out of contention for a playoff spot by December, the Pelicans didn't draw much national attention this season. That's a shame for Bey, who revived his career in obscurity.
After missing all of 2024-25, the 26-year-old wing topped his previous career high of 16.1 points per game on a personal-best 57.9 true shooting percentage. Karlo Matković was similarly unsung as a reserve, while even Murphy and Williamson deserved a bit more credit than they got for their work this season.
Bey took this one in a blowout.
Who Is the Best Athlete?
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Winner: Zion Williamson
Williamson isn't what he used to be, but when you start from an athletic baseline as high as his, you can lose a step or two and still grade out as pretty close to elite. It's notable, though, that Murphy finished with roughly 20 more dunks than his bulldozing teammate.
Jeremiah Fears' raw quickness deserved consideration, but he faced an uphill climb against Williamson's strength and Murphy's bounce. The former ultimately took the largest share of the vote.
Who Is Most Likely To Be a 1st-Time All-Star In the Next 5 Years?
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Winner: Trey Murphy III
Williamson, Murray and DeAndre Jordan (bet you forgot about that one) are the only Pels players with previous All-Star nods, leaving Murphy as the obvious next in line. He averagted at least 21.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists for the second straight year and might only need moderate upticks and a little more national attention to get the job done.
At nearly two-thirds of the vote, Murphy earned this one easily. The surprise for those outside New Orleans is Fears topping Queen by a significant margin.
Who Has the Best Contract?
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Winner: Saddiq Bey
Coming into this season, Herb Jones had this award locked up. Following a down 2025-26, his remaining four years and $83 million no longer seem like a bargain.
Murphy is the better value now, as he's a borderline All-Star wing due to collect an average of $29 million per year through 2028-29. He'll make close to twice what Jones will next season, and that feels about right.
In the end, none of that mattered. Bey ($6.4 million) will make less than half of what Jones ($14.9 million) will next year, and he was clearly the superior performer this season. That was enough for 55.0 percent of fans to choose him.
Who Has the Worst Contract?
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Winner: Jordan Poole
Plenty of good choices for this category, which isn't an ideal sign for New Orleans.
Jordan Poole will collect $34 million in the last year of his deal next season, while Murray will make slightly less than that with a $30.8 million player option for 2027-28. Neither seems likely to produce at a level in line with that kind of money, but Poole was most fans' easy choice. He earned 84.0 percent of the vote.
Jones' extension is a little scary, as he jumps up to $20.9. million, $22.5 million and $24.2 million after next season.
Who Is the Best Trash-Talker?
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Winner: Dejounte Murray
Current and former Pelicans players once identified Jose Alvarado, Naji Marshall and Herb Jones as the team's biggest trash talkers, and Jones is the only one of the three still on the team. That seemed to give Jones an advantage in the category, but Murray still emerged as the clear favorite anyway.
His 50.0 percent share of the vote was more than Jones' and Poole's combined.
Who Is Most Likely To Have a Burner Account?
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Winner: Jordan Poole
Fans determined New Orleans' rookies were savvy enough to get away with it, so votes for Fears, Queen or Micah Peavy were scarce.
Poole operates with a level of unseriousness on the floor that made him am irresistable suspect. That's a win in "worst contract" and "most likely to have a burner" for him, if you're keeping track. Not ideal.
Who Are You Taking With You Into the Zombie Apocalypse?
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Winner: DeAndre Jordan
Experience matters when things go sideways, so Jordan's nearly two decades in the league made him the graybeard fans wanted in a zombie apocalypse.
Fears' quickness and Yves Missi's tenacity made them considerations, but neither came close to DJ's majority share of votes.
Who Is Most Likely To Be Playing Overseas In 2 Seasons?
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Winner: Jordan Hawkins
The Pelicans could have made this easier by not picking up Jordan Hawkins' fourth-year option, which would have signaled they were done with the former first-rounder.
Fans determined Hawkins could still find himself out of luck in the NBA employment realm within our two-year window.
Poole has another guaranteed year on his deal, which probably saved him. Kevin Looney came in second to Hawkins with a 22.0 percent share of the vote.
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