2017–18 New Orleans Pelicans season

The 2017–18 New Orleans Pelicans season was the 16th season of the New Orleans Pelicans franchise in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Pelicans were coached by Alvin Gentry in his third year as head coach. They played their home games at the Smoothie King Center as members of the Western Conference's Southwest Division.

The team's second-leading scorer, DeMarcus Cousins, suffered a season-ending Achilles tendon injury during his subsequent final game as a Pelican on January 26, 2018, and missed the remainder of the season. Despite losing Cousins, the Pelicans clinched their first playoff berth since 2015 with a win over the Los Angeles Clippers on April 9, 2018. They finished the season 48–34 to finish in second place in the Southwest Division.

In the Playoffs, the Pelicans faced off against the third-seeded Portland Trail Blazers in the First Round. On April 14, 2018, the Pelicans won the first game in the First Round playoff series which marked the franchise's first playoff game win since the 2011 playoffs' First Round series against the Los Angeles Lakers. On April 21, the Pelicans completed the playoff series sweep over the Trail Blazers, marking the franchise's first series win since 2008. It also marked the first playoff series sweep in franchise history, and the first time that a team seeded sixth or lower had swept a First Round series since the NBA had expanded the First Round to a best-of-seven series. They advanced to the conference semifinals to face the second-seeded and defending champion and eventual NBA champion Golden State Warriors, the team that swept them in the First Round of the 2015 playoffs and were also champions that year. The Pelicans lost the series in five games and were eliminated from the playoffs.