Pelicans' Delusion for Next Season Impacting Their Trey Murphy Decision

The odds of a Trey Murphy trade are dwindling by the day. After the end of the New Orleans Pelicans' 26-win season, there was a ton of trade buzz surrounding Murphy and other veterans with trade value. So far, the Pelicans have turned down all trade offers and reportedly have a prohibitively high asking price.

The problem is that the reason the Pelicans have resisted trading Murphy isn't just the trade offers not meeting their asking price. As NBA insider Kevin O'Connor pointed out in his column this week, the Pelicans "hope to compete" next season.

If the Pelicans are under the illusion that this team is good enough to compete in the Western Conference, then they are, of course, going to keep Murphy. He is arguably the most valuable player on the team and has an irreplaceable skill set.

Can the Pelicans actually compete?

Pelicans Are Deluding Themselves About How Good This Team Can Be

This is where the front office's decision to stand pat becomes very questionable. Why do Joe Dumars and Troy Weaver think that the Trey Murphy-Zion Williamson-Herb Jones core that won an average of 23.5 wins in the last two seasons can now "compete" all of a sudden?

Sure, a full season of Dejounte Murray will help. Jeremiah Fears and Derik Queen should take a step forward in their second season.

Even if we imagine the best-case scenario with impeccable health, the Pelicans are nowhere near being a postseason team. Could you try really hard and convince yourself that this team could make the Play-In as the tenth seed? Maybe. But it's difficult to say that the Pelicans are clearly better than anyone in the West not named the Sacramento Kings.

The frustrating part of it all is that Pelicans fans have seen this film before. The David Griffin regime used to prioritize being an average .500 team, which resulted in only two winning seasons in his six seasons in charge. They consistently refused to tear it down and built teams that were not good enough to make any noise, but also not bad enough to maximize lottery odds.

With the changed lottery rules, tanking to maximize lottery odds is no longer appealing. So, the Pelicans should try to win as many games as they can next season. But they seem to be under the impression that this team can win more games than it actually is capable of.

The Pelicans are projected to win fewer than 30 games again next season. Does it really make sense to keep Murphy so that you can win 28 games and finish 13th in the West? Wouldn't it be better in the long run if the Pelicans won 23 games instead but had two or three extra first-round picks?

If the Pelicans aren't going to add to this roster and actually put together a serious group that can compete, then there is no reason to keep Murphy. The Pelicans have to choose a direction, but seem too content being stuck in purgatory.

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