Comparing NBA's last two winless teams: What's gone wrong for Pelicans and Nets? Who will get a win first?
New Orleans and Brooklyn came into the season with different priorities and have started with the same results
By
Jack Maloney
•
8 min read
The first two weeks of the 2025-26 NBA season are in the books, and the standings are starting to take shape. As expected, the reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder are atop the Western Conference and boast a perfect 7-0 record. Meanwhile, the Philadelphia 76ers and Chicago Bulls are tied for first place in the Eastern Conference with identical 5-1 marks, which no one saw coming.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, there are still two winless teams remaining, one in each conference: the New Orleans Pelicans and Brooklyn Nets. At 0-6, both teams have a long way to go before they get into historic territory -- the 2010 Nets and 2016 76ers share the record for worst starts at 0-18 -- but their campaigns are effectively already over. Only eight teams have started 0-6 and gone on to make the playoffs, though that's worse news for the Pelicans than the Nets, given their respective goals.
Let's take a closer look at what has gone wrong for each team thus far, and their future outlooks.
What has gone wrong?
Pelicans
Thirty-seven-year-old DeAndre Jordan, who began the season without a team, started the Pelicans' fourth game just five days after being signed, which should tell you all you need to know. A series of questionable moves in the offseason -- more on that later -- made this a win-now season for the Pelicans even though there was never enough talent for them to do that, especially in this Western Conference.
Kevon Looney, a key free agent addition, missed the first five games due to a knee injury, while Jordan Poole and Saddiq Bey, acquired in exchange for CJ McCollum in a big offseason trade, are both shooting under 38% from the field. Trey Murphy III, who had some awesome stretches last season, is off to a frustrating start -- he's 5 of 17 (29.4%) on non-restricted area paint attempts -- and Zion Williamson has just been OK. Rookie big man Derik Queen, whom they gave up so much to get on draft night, has seen his playing time decrease in each of the last four games. Against the Thunder, he played just six minutes and 51 seconds.
The Pelicans are 27th in offensive rating (106.8), 29th in defensive rating (124.2) and 30th in net rating (minus-17.4). Just for the sake of comparison, the 2012 Charlotte Bobcats, who went 7-59 in the lockout-shortened season, had a minus-15 net rating. There have only been six games thus far decided by 30 or more points; the Pelicans have lost three of them.
Nets
In some ways, nothing. The Nets are not trying to win this season. They made history during the 2025 NBA Draft when they kept all five of their first-round picks, becoming the first team ever to make five selections in the opening round. This is an extremely young team -- their oldest player is 29-year-old Terance Mann -- and the inexperience will make it more difficult for Jordi Fernández to squeeze extra wins out of this group like he did last season, when they unexpectedly finished 26-56.
The more the Nets lose, the better their odds of getting the No. 1 pick in the loaded 2026 draft become. The nature of the Nets' performances, however, is already wearing on Fernández, and the vibes in Brooklyn are not good. Fernández made his starters play garbage time minutes Sunday during their 24-point loss to the 76ers, then called out himself and his team during his postgame press conference.
"We go back to the same with poor defensive effort," Fernández said. "I'm failing at trying to get my guys to play hard. I'm trying to ask them questions. How can I do it to get them to play really hard? And then you live with the result. I'm not living with this result because the effort is not there and the defense is not there."
The Nets are 23rd in offensive rating (112.9), 30th in defensive rating (128.6) and 29th in net rating (minus-15.7). Here's a wild stat: Rookie guard Ben Saraf is leading the team in assists at 3.2 per game despite playing just over 18 minutes a night. Among all players, he ranks 99th.
Which team will get a win first?
Pelicans
To cut the Pelicans some slack, they've had a brutal schedule to begin the season. The Boston Celtics are the worst team they've faced, and they just concluded a grueling West Coast road trip during which they had to play the Los Angeles Clippers, Denver Nuggets and Thunder in the span of five days.
They'll return home Tuesday to face the Charlotte Hornets -- a very winnable game -- and their next four after that are the Dallas Mavericks, San Antonio Spurs, Phoenix Suns and Portland Trail Blazers. Things are going to be much easier for them over the next few weeks and they should soon be off the schneid.
As poor as they've played so far, there's far more talent in New Orleans than Brooklyn, and you would place your money on the Pelicans to get a win first.
Nets
The Nets haven't had the easiest start to the season either -- they've already lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers and Houston Rockets -- though every game is going to be a challenge when you have a bunch of teenagers and your best players are Cam Thomas and Michael Porter Jr.
The big advantage the Nets have on this question is that their next game is Monday, a full day before the Pelicans take the court again. Could the Nets take down the Anthony Edwards-less Minnesota Timberwolves? It's possible, but their performance on Sunday was extremely discouraging.
After the Wolves, the Nets' next four games are the Indiana Pacers, Detroit Pistons, New York Knicks and Toronto Raptors. In theory, there are winnable games there, but the defense has been so brutal that it would not be a surprise if the Nets' losing streak to start the season stretches into double digits.
Is either coach on the hot seat?
Pelicans
Yes, Willie Green is absolutely on the hot seat. He's dealt with a ton of obstacles during his time in charge of the Pelicans, but the team hasn't won a playoff series since he was hired in 2021 and there's a new front office in place now. Whenever change is deemed necessary in New Orleans, he'll likely be the first one moved out.
Notably, Marc Stein and Jake Fischer reported over the summer that the Knicks wanted to hire James Borrego away from the Pelicans to be Mike Brown's lead assistant, but the Pelicans shut the move down. The Pelicans reportedly did so because they wanted Borrego around in the event that they needed to make an in-season change.
It's hard to imagine Green will be able to survive too many more defeats.
Nets
No, Jordi Fernández's seat is not even warm. He was widely praised for the job he did in his first season, both internally and externally, and the front office that saddled him with this roster has no illusions of success right now. Yes, the mood in Brooklyn is bad, but that says more about the roster than Fernández's coaching ability. This group is going to look a lot different next season -- possibly even as soon as the deadline. All that really matters right now is developing the team's rookies.
What about their long-term futures?
Pelicans
Long-running concerns about the direction of the franchise were elevated when Joe Dumars was hired as the executive vice president of basketball operations in April. Almost immediately, Dumars made multiple trades that could have drastic affects on their long-term future.
Most notably, he sent the Pacers' 2026 first-round pick back to Indiana in exchange for the No. 23 pick in the 2025 Draft, days before Tyrese Haliburton tore his Achilles tendon. He then sent No. 23 (Asa Newell) and an unprotected 2026 first-round pick to the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for the No. 13 pick, which the Pelicans used to select Derik Queen. There were rumors at the time that the Hawks couldn't believe the offer was actually real and called back to confirm the parameters with Dumars before sending it to the league office.
Two weeks into the season, the Pacers are 1-5 and the Pelicans are 0-6. Come next June, there's a real chance that Dumars will have traded away two of the top-five picks in the 2026 Draft -- one that is already being heralded for the wealth of talent at the top of the class.
There is talent in New Orleans. At his best, Williamson is a top-15, top-20 type of player, but he hasn't been able to stay on the floor consistently. Murphy and Herb Jones are high-level role players and young players such as Yves Missi, No. 7 pick Jeremiah Fears and Queen all have potential. However, that's nowhere near enough to contend in the West, and they are not a free agent destination. The draft has always been their best path to acquire talent and Dumars sent away their best draft assets.
Nets
For a team that drafted five players in the first round a few months ago, there are a lot of questions about the Nets' young talent. Keeping all five first-round picks was one thing, but using four of them on playmakers who need the ball -- Egor Dëmin (No. 8), Nolan Traore (No. 19), Ben Saraf (No. 26) and Danny Wolf (No. 27) -- was widely questioned. (They also added Drake Powell, a 3-and-D wing with the No. 22 pick.)
What sort of long-term potential do any of those rookies have? And will the team be able to properly evaluate all of them this season? That's what the Nets will try to figure out over the next six months. As general manager Sean Marks said at media day, "Success for us looks like, 'How do we find, how do we determine who are the next Nets?'"
The good news for the Nets is that they'll have plenty of other swings in the draft in the coming years. They're well on their way to getting a top pick in 2026, and while they don't own their own 2027 first (the Rockets have swap rights), they have the Knicks' 2027 first and two firsts in 2028 (their own and the Sixers', which is top-eight protected).
The Nets also only have $36 million in guaranteed money on the books past 2027 and will have plenty of flexibility to reshape the roster in the coming years. All told, the Nets are in good shape, even if they're still unsure about who will actually be leading the team in a few years.
