The New Orleans Pelicans won 49 games during the NBA’s 2023-24 regular season, tied for the second-most in the team’s 22-year history. But with the NBA playoffs now in the second round, the Pelicans are where they’ve been at this point in the postseason for all but two of those campaigns – finished for the season.

“Speaking for everyone, I think everybody’s a little disappointed in the way things ended,” New Orleans forward Herb Jones said. “But I also think we did improve, competed and played really hard this year. You got to be OK with going out and putting forth your best effort and coming up short.”

The Pelicans’ record would have given New Orleans homecourt advantage in a first-round series in the Eastern Conference. In the Western Conference, it got the Pelicans into the play-in tournament.

After a 110-106 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, New Orleans beat the Sacramento Kings 105-98 to advance into the NBA playoffs as the West’s No. 8 seed.

The top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder swept the Pelicans out of the playoffs in four games.

Jones joined New Orleans from Alabama in the second round of the 2022 NBA Draft. The Pelicans won 36 games in Jones’ rookie season and had 42 victories last season.

“As long as we continue to work, I think the sky’s the limit,” Jones said. “We just got to continue to come in the gym, come back in the summer, continue to work hard and continue to build on what we’ve already been building.”

In Jones’ first two NBA seasons, former No. 1 draft pick Zion Williamson played in 29 games. This season, Williamson played in 70, although he got injured in the play-in tournament and missed the first-round series against the Thunder. With Brandon Ingram and CJ McCollum, Williamson gave the Pelicans three 20-point-per-game scorers.

All three are under contract for next season, although David Griffin, the NBA team’s executive vice president, said after the season: “This is not going to be a summer of complacency.”

“I don’t know what the future holds,” Jones said, “but I hope we can keep that crew together.”

Jones also hopes coach Willie Green will return. Green’s three seasons as an NBA head coach coincide with Jones’ three seasons with New Orleans.

“Coach Green has always been a new-day, new-opportunity type of guy,” Jones said. “That’s kind of how I view it as well. No matter how bad yesterday was, today could be a great day. And that’s how coach approaches it. Even after tough losses, he also emphasizes to come in and bring the energy regardless, and I think that showed in the team this year as well.”

Jones led New Orleans in minutes played and steals and was the best free-throw shooter among those in the regular rotation this season.

Jones has been noted as a top defensive player since he entered the league. He finished fifth in the balloting for the NBA Defensive Player of the Year for the 2023-24 season and will be watching to see if he makes the league’s All-Defensive team for this season.

But in his third season, Jones took a jump on the other end of the floor. After making 33.5 percent of his 3-point shots in his second season, Jones made 41.8 percent in the 2023-34 campaign, which ranked 16th in the NBA.

“Continuing to trust the work,” Jones said. “Staying in gym. Just going out, like I said, continuing to trust my work and play with a ton of confidence.”

Last offseason, Jones signed a four-year, $53.828 million contract extension with the Pelicans that could keep the former Hale County High School star with New Orleans through the 2026-27 season.

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.