The 2022-23 NBA season is only a couple of weeks away and we’re already seeing bigger predictions regarding this interesting and long-anticipated campaign. As usual, we have a group of teams expected to compete for the biggest prize of all, the Larry O’Brien trophy.
However, every season appears to have one team that surprises everybody and makes a big and unexpected playoff run and ends up going to the Conference Finals or the NBA Finals. In the last three seasons, we had the Miami Heat and Denver Nuggets (2020), the Phoenix Suns and Atlanta Hawks (2021), and the Dallas Mavericks, last campaign.
This offseason, we could see another sleeper going deep in the postseason, and Stephen A. Smith selected a team that left big impressions last season to take that throne left by Luka Doncic and co.
Stephen A. Smith Thinks The New Orleans Pelicans Can Surprise Everybody This Season
After picking the Los Angeles Clippers as a tough rival for the Golden State Warriors, during a recent edition of ESPN’s First Take, the controversial analyst also selected the New Orleans Pelicans as his sleepers not only in the Western Conference but the entire NBA.
“I have the New Orleans Pelicans as the No. 1 sleeper in the entire NBA. The Pelicans can end up in the Conference Finals, the Pelicans can end up in the Finals. They got a crew, they’re long, they’re athletic, they can get physical, they got shooters, they got athletes, and they got a whole bunch of heart. They ain’t scared of anybody, and they got young fresh legs. If Zion Williamson was healthy last year, they might have beaten Phoenix in the playoffs. If Zion Williamson stays healthy, I’m telling you right now, New Orleans is a huge threat, a huge threat,” Smith convincingly said.
The Pelicans did put up a show against the Suns last season, taking them to six games in the first round of the playoffs after ruining the Lakers’ chances to make it to the playoffs and then eliminating the Clippers in the play-in tournament.
This team can make a lot of noise in this upcoming campaign, and Smith is well aware of that. Don’t sleep on the Pelicans, who have another season with their rookie, with a leader like CJ McCollum, young talent, hustlers, and two stars in Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram to make things happen.
