Williamson needed one possession to answer the only question most Pelicans fans care about. On his team’s second trip down the floor against the Thunder in Tulsa, he took a pass from Herbert Jones at the top of the key, drove through the lane and finished with a left-handed slam that Oklahoma City’s Aday Mara chose not to contest.
By halftime New Orleans trailed 67-52, and Williamson had four points, four rebounds and one assist in 11 minutes.
Everything after that belonged to the Pelicans bench. New Orleans outscored the Thunder 64-43 in the second half to flip the game and win 116-110, with an 18-0 third-quarter run from the reserve group doing most of the damage.
11 points, one three, zero scares
The headline numbers for Williamson will stay modest. He finished with 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field in 16 minutes, and went 1-of-4 from three, matching his entire three-point make total from last season in a single preseason outing.
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The rest was the point. Williamson is 26, and last season he played 62 games, his second-highest career total, averaging 21.0 points, 5.7 rebounds and 3.2 assists. A full training camp without a flare-up, followed by a preseason debut that opened with a thunderous finish rather than a limp, is a different kind of statement.
Bennedict Mathurin led New Orleans with 13 points and five assists off the bench. Jeremiah Fears added 12, Derik Queen posted 10 and nine rebounds, and the second unit as a whole finished at least plus-17 across the names Mosley will lean on.
Mosley gets his first win
The game was Mosley’s first as Pelicans head coach, four and a half months after New Orleans hired the former Orlando coach on a five-year deal in May.
Mosley spoke after the win about what he had seen in camp.
“These guys have all bought in. There’s a system they know how to hold each other accountable night in and night out because you have a responsibility.”
Oklahoma City rested its stars and ran what New Orleans staff described as a B-team. Aday Mara still went a perfect 5-of-5 from the field for 12 points, nine rebounds and three blocks, and Bennett Stirtz led the Thunder with 15 points and six assists.
Three preseason games, then Indiana
The Pelicans play the Miami Heat on the road on Thursday, 8 October, before preseason home games against Dallas and Washington. Their regular-season opener is at the Smoothie King Center against the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday, 21 October, one night after the NBA opens the 2026-27 season on 20 October with Boston at Detroit, Philadelphia at New York and Oklahoma City at San Antonio.
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