New Orleans Pelicans vs Phoenix Suns Picks and Predictions: Zion Goes to Work With No Rim Protector in Sight
The New Orleans Pelicans (20-44), sitting 13th in the Western Conference, head to Mortgage Matchup Center on Friday, March 6, for a 9:00 PM ET tip against the Phoenix Suns (35-27), who enter tonight missing Mark Williams (foot stress reaction), Dillon Brooks (broken hand, now accompanied by a DUI arrest early this morning), and Jordan Goodwin (calf), with Royce O'Neale carrying a questionable tag with right foot soreness. Devin Booker played through a sluggish 103-105 home loss to Chicago on Thursday and now faces a Pelicans squad that is, for the first time this entire season, fully healthy: Dejounte Murray (returning from Achilles recovery), Trey Murphy III (shoulder), and Zion Williamson (ankle) all available, with Zion coming off 23 points and nine rebounds the night before in Sacramento. The line opened Suns -5.5 and has settled between -5.5 and -6.0 across books, with a posted total of 225.5. With Williams gone and Zion operating at 58.7% from the field this season, the most interesting number on the board tonight might not be the spread.
OC Staff - March 6, 2026, 8:30 AM EST
3 Minute ReadNew Orleans Pelicans vs Phoenix Suns Picks and Predictions: Zion Goes to Work With No Rim Protector in Sight
Pelicans vs Suns Recent Performance
New Orleans is 20-44 and still a long shot for even the play-in, but the Pelicans have started playing their best basketball right as the roster gets healthy. They have won five of their last seven, punctuated by a 133-123 win in Sacramento on Thursday night. Zion dropped 23 and nine, Murphy added 21 on efficient shooting, and the offense looked like the version of this team that the front office has been building toward all year. The road losses to the Lakers (101-110) and the Clippers (117-137) during this same stretch are a reminder that the Pelicans still bleed points at a rate no contender would tolerate, allowing 120.2 per game (27th in the league) and giving up 47.6% from the field. They put up 115.1 per game offensively (18th), which means most nights come down to which team is more efficient, not whether the Pelicans can score.
Phoenix enters this one at 35-27, parked in seventh in the West and two games back of the Lakers for sixth. February was a mess for the Suns, going 4-7 through a parade of injuries, and the losses have not stopped since the All-Star break cleared. Thursday's home loss to Chicago (103-105) was an ugly 39.1% shooting night for a team that cannot afford to go cold with their depth stripped down. Coach Jordan Ott called out the team's energy after the game. Before the Bulls game, Phoenix beat Sacramento 114-103 with Collin Gillespie contributing 17 points and nine assists and Oso Ighodaro going for 14 and 14. Ighodaro steps into Williams' role tonight, and 14 and 14 is genuinely encouraging, but Williams (11.6 points, 8.1 rebounds, 0.9 blocks per game) was the anchor of a defense that ranks sixth in the NBA at 111.1 allowed per game. Ighodaro has the energy; that rim protection is not going to be replicated.
New Orleans Pelicans vs Phoenix Suns Head to Head
Phoenix won the first meeting of the season 123-114, with Booker going for 20 points on 18 attempts in a game that showcased the Suns' half-court scoring when they get clean looks. That win came before the full wave of Phoenix's injury attrition hit, with a more complete Suns roster and a Pelicans team that had not yet figured out what their healthy starting group looked like. The Suns are 37-24 against the spread on the season; the Pelicans sit at 35-29 overall and 16-16 on the road ATS, exactly 50/50. Neither side brings a compelling ATS momentum story to this one, which is why the injury angles carry more weight than the trend data tonight.
New Orleans Pelicans vs Phoenix Suns Date, Time, and Where to Watch
- Date: Friday, March 6, 2026
- Time: 9:00 PM ET
- How to Watch: AZFamily, Suns+, Gulf Coast Sports, Pelicans+, NBA League Pass
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Pelicans vs Suns Odds
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Pelicans vs Suns Team News
The Pelicans are entering tonight with a clean bill of health. Murray sat out Thursday in Sacramento as part of his ongoing back-to-back restriction from his Achilles reconditioning, but he is available tonight and has been playing around 25 minutes per outing since his return. Zion and Murphy played through their respective questionable tags on Thursday without issue. Head coach James Borrego has some interesting lineup decisions ahead: he started Yves Missi in Sacramento, but the fully healthy lineup tends to go smallball with Murray, Herb Jones, Murphy, Saddiq Bey, and Zion. Bey is averaging 17.4 points per game and has been one of the more consistent Pelicans contributors all season. Jordan Poole has been quietly phased out of the rotation as the veterans return, which tells you everything about how healthy this roster finally is.
For Phoenix, Williams and Brooks are confirmed out, Goodwin remains sidelined, and O'Neale's questionable status is worth monitoring before tip. Booker played 38 minutes against Chicago and scored 27, so there is no sign he is being managed despite the injury noise he has dealt with this season. Gillespie averages 13.5 points on 42.4% from three and 4.8 assists per game, making him the operational center of Phoenix's offense when Booker needs support. Grayson Allen adds 17.6 points and 4.1 assists per game off the bench and has been one of the Suns' more reliable contributors in a banged-up February. The frontcourt situation is the real issue: Ighodaro at 5.9 points and 4.7 rebounds per game is a rotation piece, not a starter, and putting him against Zion for 35 minutes is asking a lot.
Prediction: Suns 116, Pelicans 113
Both teams will feel the B2B tonight. Phoenix's pace (one of the slowest in the NBA) puts a ceiling on the scoring environment, and neither team has the defensive makings of a blowout. Booker gets his 25 in the half-court, Gillespie drains a few threes off Booker pick-and-roll actions, and home court keeps Phoenix in control through the fourth. The problem is the paint. Zion, shooting nearly 59% from the field this season, has spent all year feasting against under-equipped frontcourts, and Ighodaro is exactly the type of matchup where that number goes up, not down. Murphy's perimeter shooting stretches the Suns' already-thin defensive rotations, and Murray creates enough late in the shot clock to keep New Orleans within range. Phoenix wins, but the gap stays narrow. A five or six-point spread requires the Suns to be better on the glass and on their feet than they were against Chicago, and nothing about Thursday suggested that energy is automatic.
Best Bet: Over 225.5 (-128) Click here to get the best odds at FanDuel Sportsbook
Mark Williams averaged 0.9 blocks per game and shot-altered countless more in the paint all season. He was not just a stat-line guy. The Suns' interior defense ran through him, and without him, the lane opens up for exactly the kind of player Zion Williamson is: a 280-pound power forward who gets fouled at the rim, converts at a historic clip, and has no reason to settle for jumpers when the path to the basket is clear. Zion shot 58.7% from the field this season. Ighodaro, for all his energy and effort, is not going to replicate that rim presence. Meanwhile, Booker and Gillespie run pick-and-roll against a Pelicans defense allowing 120.2 points per game, 47.6% opponent shooting, and 14.3 made threes per game allowed. The Suns aren't a high-volume offense (112.0 PPG, 26th), but they are not playing a top-ten defense tonight. The posted total of 225.5 accounts for the Suns' slow pace, but it doesn't fully price in a Williams-less frontcourt facing a Pelicans team that just scored 133. New Orleans played at the third-fastest tempo over their last five games. Even if the Suns pull that number down tonight, the scoring margin stays thin and points keep coming from both ends. Projected total of 229 clears 225.5 by enough, and the Under crowd is relying on pace alone to suppress a game where both defenses are genuinely compromised.
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