Years later, the 2017–18 New Orleans Pelicans remain one of the NBA’s great unanswered “what if” teams.
While the Houston Rockets are often remembered as the lone Western Conference squad that truly threatened the Golden State Warriors that season, DeMarcus Cousins believes New Orleans was closer to contention than history suggests.
Before injuries derailed their momentum, the Pelicans were surging behind a dominant frontcourt pairing of Cousins and Anthony Davis.
Davis finished the season as the runner-up in MVP voting, averaging 28.1 points per game while leading the league with 2.6 blocks per game.
Jrue Holiday added 19.0 points per game and earned All-Defensive First Team honors, while veterans like Rajon Rondo, E’Twaun Moore and Darius Miller rounded out a deep and versatile roster.
Cousins himself was in the midst of an All-Star season, averaging 25.2 points per game before suffering a torn Achilles. But even with that setback, Cousins now says he believed New Orleans was one move away from something special.
Cousins revealed he had already begun plotting a major addition to the roster.
“We might have won it in 2018?… That’s my dawg, AD. I got the ultimate confidence; you can put me against anybody and I’ll like my chances,” Cousins said appearing on the Run It Back show. “But that gauntlet… I think we had a lot of potential in the Pelicans team. I think we were a piece away. It’s crazy. I was actually trying to recruit Melo to that Pelicans team. If I could’ve got Melo there, I’ll stamp that quote. That missing piece, I was talking bout, that three man in the worse way.”
Anthony Davis said the Pelicans would’ve won a ring in 2018 if Boogie Cousins didn’t get hurt 👀🏆
“I think we were a piece away…I was trying to recruit Melo to that team.”
Imagine if Boogie got Carmelo Anthony to NOLA 🤯@MichelleDBeadle | @TeamLou23 | @boogiecousins pic.twitter.com/ZJsxRuI8sB
— Run It Back (@RunItBackFDTV) February 6, 2026
At the time, Carmelo Anthony was averaging 16.2 points per game with the Oklahoma City Thunder, still capable of providing high-level scoring on the wing.
Cousins believed that offensive firepower could have transformed the Pelicans into a true Big Three alongside himself and Davis.
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