{"id":112424,"date":"2024-12-16T06:37:48","date_gmt":"2024-12-16T11:37:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=112424"},"modified":"2024-12-16T06:37:48","modified_gmt":"2024-12-16T11:37:48","slug":"pelicans-zion-trade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/12\/16\/pelicans-zion-trade\/","title":{"rendered":"The Pelicans Are Open to a Zion Williamson Trade"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New Orleans Pelicans have the worst record in the Western Conference, and the second-worst record in the league. Despite making moves in the summer that they hoped would push them over the hump, they are stuck. Injuries<\/a> have plagued their season, and now the Pelicans might be willing to explore a possible Zion Williamson<\/a> trade.<\/p>\n

The Pelicans Are Open to a Zion Williamson Trade<\/h2>\n

The Pelicans have been hit by the worst injury bug possible, with many players missing significant time. Zion Williamson has played in only six games, Dejounte Murray<\/a> injured his hand in the first game of the season, and Trey Murphy III<\/a> missed some time as well. No player in their projected starting five has played more than 18 of their 27 games. Now, due to the team\u2019s lack of success, Marc Stein reported<\/a> that almost all players on their roster are available for a trade, including Zion Williamson. Here is what Stein reported,<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile naturally resistant to trade inquires for their younger gems, Herb Jones, rookie Yves Missi, and Trey Murphy III, word is that the Pelicans are essentially open to trade pitches for pretty much anyone else on the roster apart from those three amid more injury woes than even Philadelphia.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It makes sense<\/a> for the Pelicans, as Yves Missi<\/a> has shown potential as a rookie. Herb Jones<\/a> is their best defensive player, earning an All-Defensive First Team just last season. They signed Trey Murphy III to a rookie-scale extension, keeping them with a great talent moving forward.<\/p>\n

Is There a Market for Zion?<\/h3>\n

Now that the news is out that the Pelicans reportedly are willing to explore a Zion trade, is there a team that would risk it? Last year, he was mostly healthy, but this season he is battling injuries, and has appeared in only six games so far. In 2022-23, he played in only 29 games. In his rookie season of 2019-20, he played in 24 games. At this point, Zion\u2019s value has dropped, and the Pelicans might be trading from a point of weakness.<\/p>\n

Yet, there will be plenty of suitors for a talent like Zion. We have to look at teams that are not attractive free agent destinations. For example, the Charlotte Hornets, Washington Wizards, Detroit Pistons, Toronto Raptors, Utah Jazz, and the Portland Trail Blazers. All these teams are low in the standings, looking for a bright new star, and don’t have appeal in the free agent market. One team that is always possible is the Miami Heat, but it will be hard to imagine Zion surviving the infamous Heat workouts.<\/p>\n

Who Else is On the Move?<\/h3>\n

If the Pelicans are willing to trade Zion, they will certainly look to offload some of their higher-salary players who do not fit the new timeline. Going into a rebuild means dealing those that don\u2019t fit the timeline, and the Pelicans have a few players with value for contenders and teams looking to contend.<\/p>\n

First on that list is Dejounte Murray, a player they acquired this summer, but they can trade him now. If someone offers the Pelicans a similar price, they might be willing to listen. New Orleans gave away two first-round picks and two solid players. Looking at Dyson Daniels<\/a> and how he has turned out<\/a>, it is hard to imagine the Pelicans finding a similar value.<\/p>\n

Then, we have to look at CJ McCollum<\/a>, a player who is 33 years old but is still valuable to some contenders. McCollum might not fetch a big asset<\/a> in return, but getting at least a first-round pick would suffice. At the very least, the Pelicans would be willing to part with his salary. They have been trying to get rid of Brandon Ingram<\/a> since the summer, but there has been no traction on that end. By the deadline, there might be contenders missing out on players who need help and are willing to offer something.<\/p>\n

At a minimum, the Pelicans will likely make some kind of a trade leading up to the deadline. Whether the Pelicans trade Zion or someone else, we will have to wait and see. They are $1.4 million<\/a> over the luxury tax. There is no reason for a team fighting for the No. 1 pick to pay taxes.<\/p>\n

Pelicans Enter the Cooper Flagg Race<\/h3>\n

The latest news signal is that the Pelicans are ready to give up on Zion and move forward with a fresh face of the franchise. The next two drafts will be some of the strongest in a while. In 2025, teams are looking to get Cooper Flagg<\/a>, a player with the potential to be a perennial All-Star. But there are many more young stars in the 2025 draft, dubbed by experts as one of the deepest in the last 10 to 15 years. Then in 2026, there will be players like Cameron Boozer<\/a> and A.J. Dybantsa<\/a> available.<\/p>\n

So far, the Pelicans might be the second team that has \u201cofficially\u201d entered the Flagg race. The Brooklyn Nets made the first move with their Dennis Schroder<\/a> trade to the Warriors. The Utah Jazz are silently tanking and might be willing to part with some of their players at the deadline. As it stands now, the Pelicans have a top pick in the 2025 draft.<\/p>\n

It will be interesting to see what the Portland Trail Blazers and the Toronto Raptors do in the following weeks. After the Scottie Barnes<\/a> injury, the Raptors might be willing to bottom out as well.<\/p>\n

The Pelicans\u2019 Bright Future<\/h3>\n

The Pelicans are a team that can afford to bottom out and try to rebuild around a new, healthy superstar because of their draft capital.<\/p>\n

While things are not looking great now, the Pelicans have their own picks<\/a> in 2025 and 2026. They also own the Bucks\u2019 pick in 2025 and 2027, as well as swap rights in 2026. If things do not go well in Milwaukee, the Pelicans can strike and use it to their advantage. At worst, they can dangle those picks in a possible trade scenario. If they land Flagg or any other young star in the upcoming draft, they can build with their own picks and a couple of Bucks picks going forward.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The New Orleans Pelicans have the worst record in the Western Conference, and the second-worst record in the league. Despite making moves in the summer that they hoped would push them over the hump, they are stuck. Injuries have plagued their season, and now the Pelicans might be willing to explore a possible Zion Williamson […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5291,"featured_media":112439,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,62,33,4721],"tags":[49353,308,49715,49897,48964,1262,4112,4382,49284,1684],"class_list":["post-112424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-nba","category-pelicans","category-trade-rumors","tag-aj-dybantsa","tag-brandon-ingram","tag-cameron-boozer","tag-cj-mccolum","tag-cooper-flagg","tag-dejounte-murray","tag-herb-jones","tag-trey-murphy-iii","tag-yves-missi","tag-zion-williamson"],"modified_by":"Kenny Kluska","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5291"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112424"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112424\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":112440,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112424\/revisions\/112440"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}