Jordan Poole did not play a single minute Sunday, and the New Orleans Pelicans left the 26-year-old on the bench for a third straight DNP-Coach's Decision in an increasingly bleak season against the Orlando Magic.
The decision came even as New Orleans was without Dejounte Murray and Trey Murphy, and Herb Jones did not play after the first quarter. Poole, who has played in only four games since March 1 despite being healthy, has appeared in just 64 minutes over that stretch and averaged 5.3 points while shooting 24.1% from the field.
That is the shape of his season in New Orleans: 36.5% shooting overall and 32.6% from 3-point range, numbers that fit a role the club has not trusted him to fill. The Pelicans entered Sunday headed toward fewer than 30 wins, a harsh outcome for a team that traded away its unprotected first-round pick and expected offense from a player whose value is supposed to come on that end.
Instead, Poole’s tenure in New Orleans has been a disaster from the start. He has been reduced to a spectator even when the roster is short-handed, and the latest benching suggests the problem is no longer one night or one matchup but the larger judgment the team has made on what he can give it now.
For Poole, the numbers tell the story as clearly as the coach’s decision. For the Pelicans, the deeper question is how a season this poor, with so little left to salvage, can still leave a healthy player with no place on the floor.