Pelicans forward Herbert Jones has been diagnosed with a torn posterior labrum in his right shoulder, the team announced in a press release (Twitter link).
Jones, who sustained the injury in Wednesday’s loss to Portland, is out indefinitely. The 26-year-old underwent an MRI on Thursday which confirmed the injury, per the team.
As Will Guillory of The Athletic notes (via Twitter), the torn labrum is to the same shoulder that caused Jones to miss a little more than a month early in the season. That injury, which he sustained in late October, was described as a right shoulder strain and small low-grade partial thickness tear in his rotator cuff.
Frankly, it’s hard to even put into words how rotten the Pels’ injury luck has been this season. Jones’ latest injury came one day after Zion Williamson finally returned to action after missing two months with a hamstring strain. Jose Alvarado (hamstring), Brandon Ingram (ankle), Trey Murphy (hamstring, ankle), Dejounte Murray (broken hand), CJ McCollum (adductor strain), and Jordan Hawkins (back) have all had extended absences due to injuries as well.
There hasn’t been a single game in which all of the team’s rotation regulars have been active in 2024/25. The closest was probably opening night, when Murphy was still dealing with his hamstring issue — Murray fractured his hand that day, with McCollum, Jones and Williamson getting hurt shortly thereafter.
Injuries have unfortunately been a common theme for the Pelicans over the past few seasons, particularly for Ingram and Williamson. Now Jones’ season is seemingly in jeopardy after the labral tear, the same injury which cost Julius Randle most of last season.
A former second-round pick (No. 35 overall in 2022), Jones has been a valuable role player for New Orleans over the course of his four NBA seasons, particularly on defense — he earned a spot on the All-Defensive First Team in ’23/24. The Alabama native has averaged 10.3 points, 3.9 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.9 steals in 20 appearances in ’24/25 (32.4 minutes), with a shooting line of .436/.306/.825.
At this point, the Pelicans will likely just be looking to get lucky in the 2025 draft lottery, as they hold the second-worst record in the NBA at 7-31. They’re 11.5 games out of the final play-in spot in the Western Conference.
Pelicans having a 23-24 grizzlies season. They’ll be back in the mix next season
I’m rooting for them, but hard to see it. Last year for the Grizz felt like more of an anomaly, especially w Morant, but if anything this year for NO seems like the issues that plague them every year coming to a head. Par for the course.
Especially with Zion – who knows if he’ll finish this season, let alone next? And the top of the west aren’t going anywhere.
They need to shift eras. Build around Murray/Murphy/Jones/Hawkins and move on from Zion/BI, but I realize that it’s easier said than done. Seems like they may just let Ingram walk at this point, and what felt like a war chest of picks is running dry.