Pelicans fire executive VP Griffin after 6 seasons

The New Orleans Pelicans have fired executive vice president David Griffin, the team announced Monday.

Griffin spent the past six seasons as the head of basketball operations for the Pelicans. New Orleans went 209-263 under Griffin's leadership, with two postseason appearances during that span.

Griffin's tenure was marked by the Anthony Davis trade to the Los Angeles Lakers in 2019 and the drafting of Zion Williamson in 2019 with the No. 1 overall pick.

The Pelicans received three players -- Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram and Josh Hart -- and three first-round draft picks, including the No. 4 pick in 2019, in exchange for Davis.

Williamson, meanwhile, has played in just 45% of his possible games with the Pelicans -- and has never played in the playoffs after he suffered injuries prior to both of the team's postseason appearances in 2022 and 2024.

The Pelicans finished this season at 21-61 -- the fourth-worst record in the league, ahead of only the Utah Jazz (17-65), Washington Wizards (18-64) and Charlotte Hornets (19-63).

Dejounte Murray fractured his left hand in a season-opening win against Chicago Bulls, tipping off what would be a vicious wave of injuries for a team that lost 16 of its first 20 games. The vaunted trio of Murray, Williamson and Ingram never stepped foot on the court together, with Ingram traded to Toronto in February.

In all, the Pelicans lost Murray, Ingram, Williamson, Trey Murphy III, Herbert Jones and Jose Alvarado at some point to either season-ending or prolonged injuries. The club also shut down CJ McCollum for the season.

ESPN's NBA insiders contributed to this report.