Whether the New Orleans Pelicans have another game in the NBA’s 2022-23 season after Wednesday night could depend on how much a problem Herb Jones can be for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

The Oklahoma City Thunder play the Pelicans at 8:30 p.m. CDT Wednesday at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans in the NBA’s play-in tournament. ESPN will televise the game.

The winner will play the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday for the No. 8 seed in the NBA’s Western Conference playoffs. The loser will wait till next year.

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The Thunder’s Gilgeous-Alexander played in the NBA All-Star Game for the first time this season as he averaged 31.4 points per game in his fifth NBA campaign.

Jones averaged scoring 9.8 points per game, but that’s not where the former Alabama standout has his greatest impact for the Pelicans. “Not on Herb” is said by Pelicans’ fans and Jones’ teammates – a catchphrase coined to describe his defense.

“He knows where he hangs his hat every night,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “It’s on that end of the floor, and he gives it his all and tries to make his plays on that end of the floor.”

The Thunder and Pelicans played four times during the regular season. New Orleans won 105-101 on Nov. 28, 128-125 in overtime on Dec. 23 and 103-100 on Feb. 13 and Oklahoma City won 110-96 on March 11.

Gilgeous-Alexander got his baskets in those games, averaging 33.5 points. But they were harder to come by. During the 2022-23 season, Gilgeous-Alexander shot 51.4 percent from the floor and 34.6 percent on 3-pointers against the rest of the NBA, but he made 45.7 percent of all shots and 33.3 percent of his 3-pointers against the Pelicans. His assist average also dropped from 5.5 per game to 4.3.

According to NBA tracking stats, Gilgeous-Alexander had an even tougher time when guarded by Jones, shooting 41 percent in that circumstance.

“He puts a ton of pressure on the defense,” Jones said of Gilgeous-Alexander, “the way he scores it and can pass and get his teammates involved. He’s always been a tough cover, but we’re going to come out, play super hard and try to make it super tough for him.”

While Jones didn’t quite average double figures in scoring this season, he’s a week removed from the highest point total of his career – a 35-point outburst in a 138-131 overtime victory over the Memphis Grizzlies.

“I just try to go out and make the right play every possession,” Jones said. “Whatever I end up with, that’s what I end up with. As long as the team wins, I’m good.”

Jones also averaged 4.1 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.6 steals and 0.6 blocked shots during his 66 starts in his second NBA season.

“I think it all starts with getting stops,” the former Hale County High School star said. “I kind of put that on myself to get the guys going defensively.”

The Pelicans hope to follow last season’s blueprint into the Western Conference playoff field.

New Orleans also landed in the 9-10 play-in game one year ago and defeated the San Antonio Spurs 113-103. The Pelicans then defeated the Los Angeles Clippers 105-101 to earn the No. 8 seed and lost a first-round series to the Phoenix Suns in six games.

“I think we’ve grown a lot, matured a lot,” Jones said. “It’s still things we could get better at, but, overall, I feel like we’re a lot better team than we were last year.”

The Pelicans are playing on Wednesday night instead of the 7-8 play-in game on Tuesday night because New Orleans lost its regular-season finale 113-108 to the Timberwolves on Sunday. That allowed Minnesota to tie New Orleans in the final standings at 42-40 and take the No. 8 spot in the Western Conference seedings.

The Timberwolves lost the Los Angeles Lakers 108-102 in overtime on Tuesday night in the West’s 7-8 play-in game. The Lakers landed in the No. 7 seed and will square off in a best-of-seven series against the No. 2 Memphis Grizzlies.

At 8:30 p.m. Friday at Target Center in Minneapolis, the Thunder-Pelicans winner will play Minnesota for the West’s No. 8 seed and a spot in a first-round series against the top-seeded Denver Nuggets.

“We’ve always said it’s how we respond to the adversity that we dealt with throughout the year,” Jones said at Tuesday’s practice. “We’re just going to go out tomorrow and try to get that win, then we get the win, we focus on the next one.”

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