The 2021-22 New Orleans Pelicans season has not gone well to say the least, with Zion Williamson having yet to play a game and Brandon Ingram has missed six in a row with a hip issue. That, understandably, has put pressure on Pelicans executive vice president David Griffin.
That pressure may be now growing and wearing on Griffin. Per a new report from Bleacher Report’s Jake Fischer, Griffin recently left a Pelicans road trip following a “heated exchange” with ex-Pelicans head coach Alvin Gentry in Sacramento where he is now the Kings’ lead assistant.
Griffin reportedly approached Gentry, who considered the efforts “inauthentic.” The two then exchanged choice words that led to them having to be physically separated after Griffin told Gentry, “You must not have given Stan [Van Gundy] the answers to the test, either.” That was in reference to a Nola.com report that Griffin said he had given Gentry the answers to the test when he was the Pelicans coach for the season after Griffin was hired in 2019. Gentry was then fired after a 30-42 season, leading to Van Gundy’s hire who was fired after his lone season in New Orleans, going 31-41.
What comes next here figures to be fascinating. This feels like an incident that could, potentially, cost Griffin his job as he’s already on an ever-warming hot seat with the Pelicans spiraling to 1-11, most recently losing to the Thunder in rather embarrassing fashion at home. Barring Williamson and Ingram returning soon and saving the team, it’s not really clear what could change for Griffin in New Orleans at this point. And with Gentry’s reported animosity towards him, it’s clear that he’s not making a lot of allies along the way.
