Sports Team History

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
Search in posts
Search in pages
  • Home
  • Sports History
    • Baseball History
    • Basketball History
    • College History
    • Football History
    • Hockey History
    • Soccer History
  • Greatest Player Polls
  • STH News

New Orleans Pelicans Team History

Clash of Logos - NBA Logo Tourney
Sports News History Banner
Sports Market History Banner #4
New Orleans Pelicans




  • 2012
  • 2012
  • 2012
  • Tom Benson New Orleans Hornets Introduce

    Tom Benson Owner of Saints and the Hornets

    Saints owner Tom Benson has officially gained control of the New Orleans Hornets from the NBA. The completion Friday of the $338 million sale of the NBA club comes two days after the league’s board of governors approved the decision to sell to Benson. As part of the deal, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has approved the Hornets’ lease extension at ...
    Read More
    See Full Story
  • New - New Orleans Pelicans Uniforms

    Reborn as the Pelicans

    New owner Tom Benson had indicated early in his ownership that he wished to change the team’s name to something more local. He preferred that the Utah Jazz, who had been founded in New Orleans in 1974 and played there until 1979, give up the “Jazz” nickname. However, the Jazz indicated they had no interest in returning the name due ...
    Read More
    See Full Story
  • Hornets Draft Anthony Davis

    Drafting Anthony Davis #1

    Davis declared for the 2012 NBA draft alongside the rest of the national championship team starting five: fellow freshmen Kidd-Gilchrist and Teague, and sophomores Jones and Doron Lamb. At the 2012 NBA Draft Combine, Davis measured at 6 feet 9.25 inches (2.06 m), 221.8 pounds (100.6 kg), and had the second-longest wingspan—7 feet 5.5 inches (2.27 m) of any player ...
    Read More
    See Full Story

Pelicans Primary Logo
Pelicans Alternate Logo
Pelicans Wordmark Logo

History of the Pelicans

The New Orleans Pelicans (often referred to as the Pels) are an American professional basketball team based in New Orleans. The Pelicans compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division and play their home games at the Smoothie King Center. The NBA considers New Orleans an expansion team that began play in the 2002–03 season.

The Pelicans were established as the New Orleans Hornets in the 2002–03 season when George Shinn, the owner of the Charlotte Hornets, relocated the franchise to New Orleans. Due to the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the team temporarily relocated to Oklahoma City, where they spent two seasons as the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets before returning to New Orleans for the 2007–08 season. In 2013, the Hornets announced that they would change their name to the New Orleans Pelicans after the 2012–13 season.

In 18 seasons of play since the original franchise relocated from Charlotte, the New Orleans franchise has achieved an overall regular-season record of 740–864 (.461) and qualified for the playoffs eight times. Their achievements include two playoff series victories and one division title.





Established
1988

City
Charlotte – New Orleans

League History
1988 – Present / National Basketball Association

Team History
2013 – Present / New Orleans Pelicans
2007 – 2013 / New Orleans Hornets
2005 – 2007 / New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets
2002 – 2005 / New Orleans Hornets
1988 – 2002 / Charlotte Hornets

Nickname
Pelicans – After purchasing the team, Benson indicated that he wanted to change the club’s nickname to something more regionally appropriate. On December 14, 2012, it was reported that the Hornets would change their nickname to the New Orleans Pelicans. According to Yahoo's Marc J. Spears, they "considered the nicknames Krewe (groups of costumed paraders in the annual Mardi Gras carnival in New Orleans) and Brass," but settled on Pelicans—after the brown pelican, Louisiana's state bird.

Championship
NBA Championships 0

Arena
2014 – Present / Smoothie King Center
2002 – 2013 / New Orleans Arena

*Oklahoma City*
2005 – 2007 / Ford Center

*Norman*
2006 / Lloyd Noble Center

*Baton Rouge*
2005 / Pete Maravich Assembly Center

*Charlotte*
1988 – 2002 / Charlotte Coliseum

Owner
2018 – Present / Gayle Benson
2012 – 2018 / Tom Benson
2010 – 2012 / National Basketball Association
2007 – 2010 / Shinn and Gary Chouest
1988 – 2007 / George Shinn

Who is the greatest New Orleans Pelicans?
  • Add your greatest player

To qualify as the greatest player for this team, the player must have played one season for this team. If not, we will remove the player.
* verifies that player has played for this team as an added player by a fan.

Retired Number
7 / “Pistol” Pete Maravich

*Blue is this team’s history

Football Score

Sports News History

Sports News Worth Knowing

RSS NBA Headline News

  • Is it time for the Heat to pull Kyle Lowry?
  • Why the Celtics-Heat series is so ugly — and so good
  • Mavericks rain down 3s to stave off elimination in West finals vs. Warriors
  • Celtics land haymaker in slugfest of an East final
  • Mark Williams seems to be a perfect fit for the Charlotte Hornets in the NBA Draft, we ask an expert

Sports Market History

Sports Team Marketplace of Champions!

Sports Trading Cards Boxes

  • Panini Prizm NASCAR Racing 2020 Box 12 Packs
    The chase factor is high in 2020 Prizm with numerous color/substrate parallels and subsets of…
  • Topps MLB 2021 Series 1 Tin Box
    This year's release will celebrate the 70 years of Topps Baseball Cards, highlighting new rookies,…
  • Leaf NFL 2020 Draft Blaster Box
    Panini presents the 2020 Football Leaf Draft Blaster Box. <p>The post Leaf NFL 2020 Draft…
  • Panini NBA 2020 Blaster Illusions 36 Cards Box
    Each sealed box contains 6 packs of 6 cards each in a 200 card set.…
  • Panini MLB 2021 Diamond Kings Blaster Box
    Panini presents the 2021 Diamond Kings baseball full box! Blaster Box <p>The post Panini MLB…

NBA Logo Battle

NBA Greatest Player

NBA Teams
Menu
  • Atlanta Hawks
    • St. Louis Hawks
    • Milwaukee Hawks
    • Tri-City Blackhawks
  • Boston Celtics
  • Brooklyn Nets
    • New Jersey Nets
    • New York Nets
    • New Jersey Americans
  • Charlotte Hornets
    • Charlotte Bobcats
  • Chicago Bulls
  • Cleveland Cavaliers
  • Dallas Mavericks
  • Denver Nuggets
    • Denver Rockets
  • Detroit Pistons
    • Fort Wayne Pistons
    • Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons
  • Golden State Warriors
    • San Francisco Warriors
    • Philadelphia Warriors
  • Houston Rockets
    • San Diego Rockets
  • Indiana Pacers
  • Los Angeles Clippers
    • San Diego Clippers
    • Buffalo Braves
  • Los Angeles Lakers
    • Minneapolis Lakers
  • Memphis Grizzlies
    • Vancouver Grizzlies
  • Miami Heat
  • Milwaukee Bucks
  • Minnesota Timberwolves
  • New Orleans Pelicans
    • New Orleans Hornets
    • Charlotte Hornets
  • New York Knickerbockers
  • Oklahoma City Thunder
    • Seattle Supersonics
  • Orlando Magic
  • Philadelphia 76ers
    • Syracuse Nationals
  • Phoenix Suns
  • Portland Trailblazers
  • Sacramento Kings
    • Kansas City Kings
    • Cincinnati Royals
    • Rochester Royals
  • San Antonio Spurs
    • Texas Chaparrals
    • Dallas Chaparrals
  • Toronto Raptors
  • Utah Jazz
    • New Orleans Jazz
  • Washington Wizards
    • Washington Bullets
    • Capital Bullets
    • Baltimore Bullets
    • Chicago Zephyrs
    • Chicago Packers
  • Past Teams
    • Baltimore Bullets 1949
    • Chicago Stags
    • Cleveland Rebels
    • Denver Nuggets 1948
    • Detroit Falcons
    • Pittsburgh Ironmen
    • Providence Steamrollers
    • St. Louis Bombers
    • Toronto Huskies
    • Washington Capitols

STH News

"Latest Sports Team History News"

Best Stadiums in the Premier League History

May 26, 2022

The Epic Transformation of the Toronto Raptors

May 23, 2022

Greatest and Biggest Comebacks in NFL History

May 19, 2022

The Best Teams in the NBA in the 21ST Century

May 18, 2022

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
Search in posts
Search in pages
Sports Logo History
Sports News History
Sports Market History
  • About
  • Contact
  • Disclaimer Sports Team History
  • Privacy Policy

Sports Team History
© 2013 - 2022 Sports Team History
Managed by Sports History Group
  • Home
  • Sports History
    • Baseball History
    • Basketball History
    • College History
    • Football History
    • Hockey History
    • Soccer History
  • Greatest Player Polls
  • STH News