Summarize and humanize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in EnglishThe New Orleans Pelicans fired executive vice president David Griffin after the team missed the playoffs four times in the six years while he was in charge, the team announced Monday.The status of head coach Willie Green, who Griffin hired in the summer of 2021, remains uncertain.Griffin’s dismissal means the Pelicans will have a new voice in their front office guiding them as they approach a crossroads this offseason.This summer, the Pelicans must decide if they want to move forward with Zion Williamson after yet another tumultuous, injury-riddled season.In his six seasons with the Pelicans, Williamson has missed more games (268) than he has played in (214). Williamson has been dominant when he’s on the court, but his injury issues have prevented him from reaching his potential.The Pelicans hired Griffin in April 2019. In his first four months on the job, Griffin drafted Williamson with the No. 1 overall pick and traded Anthony Davis to the Los Angeles Lakers for Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart, Lonzo Ball and three first-round picks.New Orleans, which already had Jrue Holiday on its roster, was talented, but its 2019-20 season went awry when Williamson tore the meniscus in his right knee in the preseason. The Pelicans lost a franchise-record 13 consecutive games before Williamson made his NBA debut in January 2020. The Pelicans finished Williamson’s rookie year with a 30-42 record.This became a recurring tale during Griffin’s tenure in New Orleans.Williamson didn’t play at all in his third season due to a broken right foot, and he was limited to 29 games in his fourth season because of a right hamstring injury.While Griffin’s tenure in New Orleans will mostly be highlighted by the stars he acquired in his first year — drafting Williamson and trading for Ingram — he succeeded by adding young, complementary pieces around those two through the draft and free agency.Under Griffin’s watch, the Pelicans acquired Trey Murphy in the first round of the 2021 NBA Draft and followed that up by using first-round picks on Dyson Daniels in 2022, Jordan Hawkins in 2023 and Yves Missi in 2024. New Orleans also selected Herb Jones in the second round of the 2021 draft and added Naji Marshall and Jose Alvarado, two undrafted players.Those young pieces fortified a Pelicans roster that was once considered one of the deepest in the NBA. They also played major roles in keeping the team afloat while Williamson and Ingram fought through constant injuries.In June, Griffin traded for former All-Star Dejounte Murray and sent Daniels, Larry Nance Jr. and two first-round picks to the Atlanta Hawks. Murray broke his left hand in his Pelicans debut. Murray returned one month later only to tear his Achilles in January — a brutal blow for a team that watched Daniels ascend into a Defensive Player of the Year candidate in Atlanta.The Pelicans’ 21 wins were their fewest in a season since 2011-12. That summer, the Pelicans won the No. 1 pick in the draft lottery, which they used to select Davis.Winning the 2019 draft lottery was a sign that Griffin could bring the seismic culture shift that was desperately needed in New Orleans following Davis’ ugly departure. Adding Williamson as the new face of the franchise was supposed to usher in a new era of New Orleans basketball.Instead, Williamson has struggled to avoid injuries on the court and drama away from the court that has kept him in headlines. A major part of Griffin’s downfall with the Pelicans was his inability to solve the Williamson puzzle and build a working relationship that could eliminate the miscommunications that have marred the relationship between the two sides over the years.In 2021, The Athletic reported tension was already building around Williamson and his camp due to their displeasure with Griffin’s hand-picked medical staff. In recent years, both sides have attempted to mend those fences by compromising on certain issues behind the scenes.Griffin agreed to reshape the team’s medical staff ahead of the 2023-24 season, partially due to Williamson’s unhappiness over his rehab process in years past.Williamson also agreed to be more inclusive with the team when it came to his daily workout regimen and offseason conditioning. The work both sides did behind the scenes led to Williamson playing a career-high 70 games during the 2023-24 season before his untimely hamstring injury in the Play-In Tournament.In an interview with The Athletic last summer, Williamson detailed a conversation between him and Griffin that resonated with him:“He told me he was really proud of me. He told me he trusts me,” Williamson said. “He fully trusts me. There weren’t any more small doubts.”That trust didn’t last long as unease about Williamson’s availability and more miscommunications became an issue once again the following season.After missing several games earlier in the season due to non-COVID-19 illnesses, Williamson had another setback with his left hamstring that sidelined him for 27 games, just as the season was falling apart.Only days after returning from his hamstring injury, Williamson was suspended for one game on Jan. 10 after showing up late for a team flight. Both coach Willie Green and the organization confirmed that Williamson’s tardiness had become a repeated issue.While the relationship between Griffin and Williamson improved, the “trust” Williamson spoke of never solidified.And while injuries have been a massive hindrance during the first five seasons of Griffin’s tenure, they reached another level in 2024-25.Between Williamson, Murray, Murphy, Jones and CJ McCollum, the best players on the Pelicans’ current roster missed a combined 158 games this season. Ingram also missed 33 games before he was traded to the Toronto Raptors in February.Ahead of the season, Griffin spoke glowingly about the opportunity New Orleans had to form a team with three former All-Stars in Williamson, Ingram and Murray, along with all the other talent on the roster. Instead, Williamson, Ingram and Murray never played a single minute together due to the various injuries and ailments they battled all season.(Photo: Stephen Lew / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)
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