New Orleans Pelicans players and coaches are in for quite a long day. It’s so lengthy, in fact, that it began with a Tuesday morning shootaround in the Smoothie King Center, but won’t technically conclude until Thursday morning in China.
The Pelicans (1-0) host the Indiana Pacers at 7 p.m. tonight in their second preseason game, then will depart immediately afterward for a 15-ish hour flight to Shanghai, with a brief layover in between. Due to the 13-hour time difference between Louisiana and China, that means that it will be Thursday when the team’s plane finally arrives in Asia.