The New Orleans Pelicans visit the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday, April 12, with both teams facing significant availability challenges.
New Orleans enters the matchup at 26-55, sitting 11th in the Western Conference and already eliminated from playoff contention. Minnesota holds a 48-33 record, positioned 6th in the West and officially qualified for the postseason as a top-six seed.
New Orleans will be without multiple rotation players, significantly impacting both scoring and defensive structure. Saddiq Bey, Herbert Jones, Karlo Matkovic, Bryce McGowens, Yves Missi, Trey Murphy III, Dejounte Murray, and Zion Williamson are all listed out for the matchup.
Minnesota also enters the game heavily depleted. Kyle Anderson, Mike Conley, Ayo Dosunmu, Anthony Edwards, Rudy Gobert, Bones Hyland, Jaden McDaniels, Julius Randle, and Naz Reid are all out.
Recent form highlights inconsistent finishing from both sides. New Orleans lost 118-144 to the Boston Celtics on April 10 and 113-117 to the Sacramento Kings on April 3. Minnesota defeated the Houston Rockets 136-132 on April 10 but previously fell 120-132 to the Orlando Magic on April 8.
The season series has already leaned toward Minnesota, which leads 2-1. The Timberwolves won 149-142 in overtime and 125-116 at home earlier in the season, while Pelicans rally from 18 down as trio leads comeback win over Timberwolves.
