Did the Pelicans Make a Mistake by Not Making the Trey Murphy-Jaylen Brown Trade?

The wild twists and turns of the NBA offseason are continuing to shock the fans. The latest move that will alter the league landscape came on Wednesday night. The Boston Celtics traded Jaylen Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers for Paul George, two first-round picks, and two second-round picks.

The initial reaction to the trade among basketball fans was disbelief. A Brown trade was expected, but no one could have seen coming how little it would take to acquire him from the Celtics. George is seven years older than Brown and is on a much worse contract. One would have thought that it would have taken the Sixers more than two first-round picks to turn George into a 29-year-old coming off the best season of his career.

For Pelicans fans, this deal brings up a different question. Brown was rumored to be a potential Pelicans target until it was reported before free agency that they weren't actively pursuing the former Finals MVP. The Celtics were rumored to be interested in Trey Murphy, which would have been the main return in the trade package for Brown.

Given what many thought the asking price for Brown would be and where the Pelicans are as a franchise, it didn't make much sense for them to trade Murphy for Brown. The expectation would have been for New Orleans to add more assets in this trade, especially since they would have had to include Jordan Poole or Dejounte Murray in the deal for salary-matching purposes.

Pelicans May End Up Regretting Not Going After Jaylen Brown

However, NBA insider Jake Fischer reported on Wednesday that if the Pelicans wanted to swap Murphy for Brown, that deal would have already been done. In his livestream for Bleacher Report, right before the Celtics-Sixers trade was announced, Fischer said that the Pelicans had no interest in turning Murphy into Brown.

If it were just a straight-up Brown-for-Murphy swap, should the Pelicans have done that deal? Was it a mistake not to pursue the 29-year-old All-Star?

If it also allowed the Pelicans to get off Poole or Murray's contract, this would have been a no-brainer. Getting such a clear talent upgrade without giving up any future assets or draft capital would have made some sense for the Pelicans.

Whether we can call this a mistake, however, will depend on what the Pelicans do the rest of the offseason. Perhaps they have other plans for Murphy and will get a better return in another trade.

If the plan is to run it back with the same core, however, the Pels may end up regretting not making this trade. Especially with everyone else around them making moves to improve their rosters, the Pelicans are falling behind in the league hierarchy. With the new lottery rules that punish teams that finish at the bottom of the league, New Orleans should have been more aggressive this offseason.

The Pelicans still have time to turn things around this summer, but let's hope that we don't remember this moment as a missed opportunity.

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