New Pelicans Exec Joe Dumars Dismisses Idea of 'Mandate' to Trade Zion Williamson

New Orleans' new executive vice president of basketball operations said there's no mandate to trade the franchise's much-maligned star player.

New Orleans Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations Joe Dumars dismissed the idea that there's a mandate to trade Zion Williamson. / Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images

The New Orleans Pelicans introduced new executive vice president of basketball operations Joe Dumars on Tuesday, and the new front office head dismissed the report of a "mandate" from ownership to trade Zion Williamson.

"I read that last week...that I had a mandate," Dumars said with a chuckle. "If I have, no one has called me and told me that," he added.

"No really, absolutely zero. Me and Mrs. Benson talked and she really just said, 'Joe I would like to know what it's like to win an NBA title.' That was it. That was as close to an edict as you will get."

Williamson has only played more than 60 games in a season on two occasions in his NBA career. This year in New Orleans, he played in just 30 games, averaging 24.6 points, 7.2 rebounds and 5.3 assists on 56.7% shooting from the floor.

Dumars was named the 2003 NBA Executive of the Year and was the architect behind the Detroit Pistons' NBA title. He ran Detroit's front office through 2014. He left his role internally with NBA operations for the Pelicans job, which is his first high-level front office gig since running the Pistons.

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