The New Orleans Pelicans and their head coach are terrible, terrible actors (Video)

NBA players and coaches, huge shocker here, are usually not good actors. That’s not their fault, it’s an entirely different profession, and yet for decades players have been pressed into service as either commercial pitchmen, would-be stars of the silver and/or small screen, or into all manner of thespian pursuits that more often than not turn out rather poorly.

This turned out rather poorly.

This is a pregame video put together by the New Orleans Pelicans, featuring the team’s mainstays and head coach pretending to act as line cooks at a New Orleans restaurant named “Borgne,” helmed by a “celebrity chef” that I’ve never heard of, ultimately serving a meal to the just-as-befuddled Pelicans owner Tom Benson.

Even by athlete standards, this is truly, truly awful. You have to watch:

Now, there has been some consternation of whether or not it is in good taste to feature a litany of African-American players serving dinner to their white owner, but I’ll leave that for you to pass judgment on.

I’m judging the acting here.

That was bloody brutal, and the oldest member of this particular made-up cooking crew – Pelicans coach Monty Williams – may have turned in the worst line-reads of all of them. You can practically imagine whoever had to write Williams’ “game … I mean, ‘meal’” or “fans … I mean, ‘guests’” or the killer “waiting to see … eat your creation” going absolutely bonkers as Monty stepped on every single word.

Then there is Benson – who was caught staring into his phone on Tuesday evening by the television cameras after what was probably Anthony Davis’ most astounding slam in what was a rather astounding night – staring directly into the camera …

… before delivering the killer “I thought you guys looked familiar” line to tie it all together.

The clip was played on the Smoothie King scoreboard before the game. Luckily for New Orleans, they were only playing Orlando last night.

(Hat-tip: Pro Basketball Talk.)

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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KDonhoops