Southwest Notes: Pelicans, Wembanyama, Udoka, Morant, Doncic

The Pelicans believe they should be considered among the best teams in the West after back-to-back blowout wins in difficult environments, writes William Guillory of The Athletic. New Orleans is sixth in the conference at 23-15 — only three-and-a-half games out of the top spot — after crushing the Warriors by 36 points on Wednesday. That followed a 33-point victory Sunday at Sacramento, and the combination has the players feeling good about their chances.

“I would say we have the deepest team in the entire league. We have 12, 13, 14 guys who can all play on any team. They can be rotational players,” Trey Murphy said. “Guys are really sharing the ball. It’s beautiful to watch. We’re shooting the ball at a really high level right now, and our defense has really carried on the road.”

The Pelicans’ improvement has been a product of avoiding injuries, Guillory notes. After playing just 29 games last year, Zion Williamson has only missed seven so far this season. Brandon Ingram has been available for all but three, while CJ McCollum has only sat out one game since returning from a partially collapsed lung in November.

“Health matters, man. It matters,” McCollum said. “It matters for game-planning. It matters for practice. It matters for camaraderie, chemistry, execution. You’ve got to be used to playing with guys to get the results that you want.”

There’s more from the Southwest Division:

• After posting his first career triple-double in just 21 minutes Wednesday night, Spurs rookie Victor Wembanyama said he would like to see his minutes restriction lifted soon, tweets Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News. Wembanyama said the restriction “could be turned off like this” as he snapped his fingers, adding that he hopes to talk to the team’s medical staff about the possibility.
• Wembanyama is expected to be part of the French team for this summer’s Olympics in Paris, according to Joe Vardon of The Athletic. The Spurs‘ top draft pick didn’t take part in last year’s World Cup, but there appear to be no impediments to him trying to win an Olympic gold medal in his native country.
• In an interview with Marc J. Spears of Andscape, Rockets coach Ime Udoka says he still has strong relationships with his former Celtics players, even though they were only together for one season. Udoka will return to Boston on Sunday for the first time since being suspended and ultimately replaced as head coach. “My [Celtics] players will reach out and talk about how proud they are about what we’re doing and then vice versa. I see what they’re doing as well,” Udoka said. “The biggest piece from just being there for only one season was those relationships we formed. And some of those guys I’ll talk to for the rest of our lives. And so, there is a close bond and you look back at what could have been, but also understand the impact you had and the relationships [you] will continue to have going forward.”
• Ja Morant had successful surgery on his right shoulder this morning, the Grizzlies announced (via Twitter). Morant will miss the rest of the season.
• A sprained right ankle will force Mavericks star Luka Doncic to sit out tonight’s game against New York, tweets Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News.