Everyone loves a New Orleans King Cake, the sugary iced confection with a tiny baby doll hidden inside that brings good luck to those who accidentally eat it during Mardis Gras.

Leave it to New Orleans to take that King Cake baby doll to the next level as it has done with its NBA basketball team's King Cake Baby mascot.

The mascot runs around the New Orleans Pelicans' court during halftime to entertain - as well as horrify - the crowd.

The team's official mascot is Pelican Pierre, a smiling and friendly-looking bird that fits in with traditional mascots elsewhere in American sports. But it wouldn't be New Orleans without something a little different from the rest of the NBA.

Layne Murdoch/NBA