Bryce McGowens
McGowens enters 2026-27 as a depth wing for New Orleans who has to win bench minutes in camp rather than being handed them, with his toe designation adding short-term uncertainty right as preseason games start.
Role
He is on the Pelicans' training camp roster as a guard/wing (no. 11), per the club's own camp announcement and a local beat report on the roster released around September 26, 2026, with camp running September 29 through October 5, 2026 and the first preseason game set for October 6 in Tulsa against Oklahoma City. As of this check, October 5, 2026, no preseason or exhibition game involving him has actually been played, so there is no on-court evidence yet of where he fits in the rotation, only camp inclusion. A Yahoo Sports training camp preview published before camp opened (around September 5-6, 2026) said he would have to compete for minutes, naming Bennedict Mathurin and Micah Peavy as the two players most likely to cut into his playing time; an earlier Yahoo camp-roster piece from July 26, 2026 similarly placed him and Peavy 'towards the bottom of the rotation' among the team's wings. These are previews written before camp started, not observations from camp itself.
Last season he shot efficiently and hit threes at a high rate, and New Orleans converted him from a two-way deal to a three-year standard contract in a transaction reported around February 2026, which suggests organizational confidence; a July 21, 2026 preview also framed New Orleans' lack of roster turnover on the wing as an opening for him to take on a bigger role.
A Yahoo training camp preview cited CleaningTheGlass data showing the Pelicans' defense was notably worse per 100 possessions with him on the floor last season, ranking in roughly the 18th percentile for wings, and flagged rebounding as his clearest weakness; that same preview, published before camp, listed Mathurin and Peavy as the two players who pose the biggest threat to his minutes this season.
Where analysts split
Whether McGowens holds onto a steady bench wing role once camp cuts and preseason minutes settle, or whether Mathurin and Peavy push him further down the depth chart; this is only addressed so far in previews written before camp opened, not in anything observed at camp or in a game.
Research confidence: thin. Outlooks are grounded in web search over current reporting and refreshed through the season.
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