Pelicans Trade Deadline Grade: Will New Orleans Regret Standing Pat?

The New Orleans Pelicans chose status quo at the trade deadline, much to the frustration of their fanbase.

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As expected, the New Orleans Pelicans largely stood pat at the trade, much to the frustration of their fanbase. Sitting at 13-40, the Pels have the second-worst record in the league. Yet, they were the only team at the bottom of the NBA with little interest to make significant changes. Even though they had valuable pieces like Zion Williamson, Trey Murphy, Saddiq Bey, and Herb Jones that could have brought back significant draft capital and future assets, the Pelicans decided to keep their core together, at least until the offseason.

There have been recent reports that the front office sees this group as a playoff roster. Thinking that a team that has gone 34-101 over the last season and a half is a playoff team in hiding is clearly delusional, and that is the mindset behind the decision-making process in New Orleans.

Pelicans Will Regret Their Trade Deadline Inaction

Looking at the rest of the Western Conference, Pelicans fans have every right to be angry. The Memphis Grizzlies, LA Clippers, and Dallas Mavericks, who are all in better situations than the Pels, have decided to rebuild, trading away Jaren Jackson Jr., Ivica Zubac, and Anthony Davis, respectively. They all added significant draft capital to set themselves up for the future.

Even though we don't know the specific trade offers the Pelicans had in front of them, it's safe to assume that there was interest in Herb Jones and Trey Murphy. In a world where the Jazz are trading three first-round picks for Jackson and the Wizards are trading two firsts for AD, the Pelicans could have easily gotten multiple quality first-round picks for Murphy, who is younger and on a much better contract. Jones would have presumably brought back a first-round pick for the Pelicans, as well.

The Pelicans can easily look at the Chicago Bulls to see the downside of waiting too long to trade your pieces. After standing pat for multiple transaction windows, the Bulls had to trade Ayo Dosunmu, Coby White, and Nikola Vucevic this week without getting a single first-round pick in return. Since they were all expiring contracts, their value had significantly decreased.

The same thing will happen to the Pelicans. There is a chance Williamson's value will never be as high as it was this week. Jones starts a $20.8 million contract in 2027, which may not be considered a team-friendly contract. Then, the Pelicans front office will look at this trade deadline as a big missed opportunity.

One of the only reasons that this trade deadline grade is not an F is the Jose Alvarado trade. The Pelicans at least found religion when it comes to their fan favorite, received draft capital, and let him play meaningful basketball. The fact that they held onto Yves Missi, despite reports of trade interest around the league, is another positive. Missi is only 21 years old, in his second season in the league, and has shown intriguing defensive flashes in recent weeks.

Other than that, it was a disastrous trade deadline for the Pelicans, pushing the organization further into a bleak future.

Grade: D