The 2011-12 season was not kind to the New Orleans Pelicans*. The dynamic tandem of David West and Chris Paul were no longer terrorizing the NBA, both players having departed New Orleans to get fresh starts elsewhere. Eric Gordon led the team in scoring, but only played 9 games. They only managed to score 89.6 points per game in a shortened lockout season and went just 21-45.
There were four teams entering the Draft Lottery that had better odds of winning the rights to the first pick than the New Orleans Pelicans (13.