1) Congratulations are in order to Pelicans Vice President of Basketball Operations & Team Development Swin Cash, who was chosen for the Basketball Hall of Fame’s 2022 class. Enshrinement festivities will take place in September in Springfield, Mass.
2) Ninth-place New Orleans (34-43) wraps up Week 24 of the NBA regular season Sunday with a second game in three days inside Crypto.com Arena, visiting the eighth-place LA Clippers (38-40) at 8:30 p.m. Central. Pregame coverage starts at 8 on Bally Sports and 100.3 FM. The game is also available nationally on NBA TV. Read Saturday’s injury report.
3) The Pelicans enter Sunday with a two-game lead on No. 10 San Antonio (32-45), which hosts Portland at 6 p.m. Sunday. The Spurs hold the tiebreaker on the Pelicans, decreasing the margin of error for NOLA to lock up the No. 9 seed and potentially begin the play-in tournament in the Smoothie King Center. The No. 11 Lakers (31-46) are three games behind the Pels and host Denver at 2:30 p.m. on ABC.
4) Partly by virtue of a 3-0 sweep, New Orleans may ultimately end up pushing the Lakers out of play-in contention and also take their first-round pick.
5) Watch a “24 Seconds” video with CJ McCollum.