Tha Mobb

A NEW ERA OF NEW ORLEANS BASKETBALL IS UPON US, HEADLINED BY THE EXCITING CORE OF ZION WILLIAMSON , LONZO BALL, JRUE HOLIDAY AND BRANDON INGRAM . IN A CITY FULL OF ENERGY AND PASSION, THE BUZZ AROUND THE PELICANS HAS NEVER BEEN LOUDER. THE CELEBRATION HAS ALREADY BEGUN, AND IT COULD GO ON FOR QUITE A WHILE…

- Alex Squadron

IT HOVERS AROUND 90 degrees on a Sunday afternoon in the French Quarter of New Orleans, but the heat isn’t a deterrent. Not on game day.

The Saints are set to host the Cowboys on primetime. Black and gold jerseys flood Bourbon Street as early as 11:00 am. Cigar smoke and the smell of Willie’s Chicken Shack fill the air. Bars are packed hours before kickoff and multi-colored beads fly off second-floor balconies. Bands of trumpets, trombones and other massive horns spontaneously perform on sidewalks. A dance crew outside St. Louis Cathedral has a huge speaker set up and uses a microphone to interact with pedestrians. Groups of little kids bang on buckets with drum sticks.

This is the rich culture of the Big Easy. This is the kind of energy that the people possess—it just hasn’t always, or fully, been directed at basketball.

That’s beginning to change, though. You can feel it.

The new Pelicans core of Zion Williamson, Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram and Jrue Holiday is a major reason why. There are several other factors, including a dramatic change in the culture of the organization, from top to bottom. The prospect of winning—and winning for a long, long time—has the city galvanized. Locals are getting behind it. The team has sold more than 12,000 season-ticket equivalents for 2019-20, the highest mark in over a decade. Since the NBA draft, they have seen the second-largest Instagram follower growth (29.5 percent) in the League, compared to merely 6 percent over the same period last year.

“We have an open practice coming up and they’ve had requests for more tickets than the Smoothie King Center has seats,” Coach Alvin Gentry says. “That would’ve never happened a few years ago. That alone tells me that we’re transitioning into something pretty good.”

“Pretty good” is an understatement.