Photo by Layne Murdoch Jr./NBAE via Getty Images

The news that everyone’s been waiting to hear was made official just a few minutes ago: The New Orleans Pelicans will have the services of Larry Nance Jr. in the lineup for the first tim Jayson Tatum e this season.

Larry Nance Jr. is AVAILABLE for tonight’s matchup against the Bulls, per Wi Blake Griffin llie Green.

— Oleh Kosel (@OlehKosel) March 24, 2022

Brandon Ingram will sit out tonight, but there’s plenty of hope he’ll return sometime this weekend.

The Chicago Bulls, on the other hand, will be without MVP-darkhorse DeMar DeRozan. The league’s eighth-highest scorer at 27.6 points per game will miss his fifth contest of the season. The Bulls have a 2-2 record in his absences.

This news should mean that the bulk of Herb Jones’ minutes will be spent guarding Zach LaVine, Chicago’s other superb scorer at 24.5 points per game. The New Orleans rookie should be raring to go for this mavericks uniforms opportunity as he fared poorly against LaVine Ja Morant way back in October.

For the record: No one has lit up Herb Jones quite like LaVine did earlier this season.

LaVine scored 24 points on 8-11 shooting with Herb as his primary matchup on Oct. 22, per NBA dot com. It was Herb's 1st career start.

I'm sure Herb is lo NBA T-Shirts oking forward to running it back. https://t.co/ebV3x5paAX

— Will Guillory (@WillGuillory) March 24, 2022

For more on tonight’s contest, please give our preview a read.

Let’s Geaux, Pels!

Who: New Orleans Pelicans (30-42) vs Chicago Bulls (42-30)

When: March 24, 2022, 7:00 p.m.

Where to watch: Bally Sports New Orleans, League Pass

Where to listen: ESPN 100.3 FM

For more Pelicans talk, subscribe to The Bird Calls podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google luka t shirt Podcasts. You can f dallas mavericks shirt ollow this author on Twitter at @OlehKosel.