Pelicans Purge - Zion, Ingram, Murray, McCollum

[MasterIchiro]

Mark Stein substack reported Pelicans are listening on everyone except:

Herb Jones
Tre Murphy III
Yves Missi

For the Hornets, I'm most interested in Jordan Hawkins because I don't see Nick Smith Jr. developing into a sniper off the bench.

Hornets should not be reaching for these older, more expensive playoff caliber pieces on the Pelicans.

[jbk1234]

A tricky thing I'm finding with potential McCullom or Ingram trades-- 3 of the teams in the East I could see going for a play-in/off push: Hornets, Pistons, Bulls-- all have protections on their 1st this year that incentives them to miss the playoffs. Bulls lose their pick to Spurs if it's not top 10, Hornets to Spurs if it's not lotto, Pistons give it to MIN(?) if it's not top 13.

So I could see them going for McCullom or Ingram to give their young cores some meaningful end of season game experience, but then they want to keep their pick so they will probably just pass on adding them this season.

Pels badly overplayed their hand in the Ingram deal. They should have traded Ingram to the Kings for what the Kings sent out for DeRozen.

I don't think it was the Pelicans who overplayed their hand so much as Ingram. He's already fired his first agent after the hypothetical team willing to pay him $50M per never materialized as a trade partner. Now he's injured again, which on the list of foreseeable risks which was right there at the top in capital letters, and I suspect the $40M per the Pels were prepared to offer is in doubt.

[NotACat]

A tricky thing I'm finding with potential McCullom or Ingram trades-- 3 of the teams in the East I could see going for a play-in/off push: Hornets, Pistons, Bulls-- all have protections on their 1st this year that incentives them to miss the playoffs. Bulls lose their pick to Spurs if it's not top 10, Hornets to Spurs if it's not lotto, Pistons give it to MIN(?) if it's not top 13.

So I could see them going for McCullom or Ingram to give their young cores some meaningful end of season game experience, but then they want to keep their pick so they will probably just pass on adding them this season.

Pels badly overplayed their hand in the Ingram deal. They should have traded Ingram to the Kings for what the Kings sent out for DeRozen.

I don't think it was the Pelicans who overplayed their hand so much as Ingram. He's already fired his first agent after the hypothetical team willing to pay him $50M per never materialized as a trade partner. Now he's injured again, which on the list of foreseeable risks which was right there at the top in capital letters, and I suspect the $40M per the Pels were prepared to offer is in doubt.

I also wonder how Ingram's contract dispute impacts his value. I could easily see GMs being turned off by a someone who would make $40M a year. First off, that is an insane amount of money. Secondly, it was appropriate to his value at the time, and maybe a slight overpay, but he wanted more for what? Ego?

With the new CBA, GMs can't afford to overpay players and I for one would be very hesitant sending out assets to bring in a player who has already shown their resistance to not receiving a full max contract.

[One_and_Done]

So they're only making available the guys no team really wants. Helpful. I don't see much happening.

[Pattycakes]

The pelicans are by far one of the most embarrassing attempts at a contender I’ve ever witnessed because - they will get almost nothing for each asset.

Zion is at the point he won’t even yield much. Ingram/CJ are near albatross. Dumped Daniels who looked ready to breakout.

My blazers aren’t even in much better shape, but I mourn because one of these two was supposed to be good and just aren’t, we are a planned tank on our end.

I’ll pray for the pels because this may be the beginning of their exit from the city and it couldn’t look worse.

Maybe they’ll get some assets but it doesn’t look good.

[Skybox]

The pelicans are by far one of the most embarrassing attempts at a contender I’ve ever witnessed because - they will get almost nothing for each asset.

Zion is at the point he won’t even yield much. Ingram/CJ are near albatross. Dumped Daniels who looked ready to breakout.

My blazers aren’t even in much better shape, but I mourn because one of these two was supposed to be good and just aren’t, we are a planned tank on our end.

I’ll pray for the pels because this may be the beginning of their exit from the city and it couldn’t look worse.

Maybe they’ll get some assets but it doesn’t look good.

Zion for Ayton?

[bkohler]

Zion for Collins, Eubanks, and CLE 25, 29 2nd?

[zimpy27]

Zion to Pacers seems good to me.

Zion for Siakam?

[zimpy27]

I think Pelicans either keep Ingram or Zion, one gets traded.

I also think CJ gets traded..There are a few excellent SGs in the 2025 draft after Flagg. Pels will take one if they don't get Flagg.

Murray, Herb, TM3, Missi -- Alvarado

These guys seem like keepers for sure, with likely Zion staying.

[Xman]

NO has enough talent that they do not need to take it down hard.
I see a good foundation with:
pg - Murray, Alvarado
sg/sf - trio of Murphy/Herb/Hawkins
pf - (maybe Zion)
c - Missi

The clear pieces that are not needed are CJ and Ingram.
I would probably keep Murray and Zion. Well, if they get lucky and get Flagg, then Zion might go on the block (or if they decide they are tired of waiting on him). Unless it is an overpay, Murray only goes on the block if Hawkins or Alvarado are ready to take over at the point - which I doubt.

I would love to see Ingram go to Indy for Jarace Walker and enough guys to make salary match. Jarace has been buried but could start in NO at pf (not the sf they are forcing him to play)(and help tank while he develops).

I would try to send CJ to DET for THJ and Stewart. DET would probably take Ingram for that package but not CJ - unless some incentive was added.

I would also try sending CJ to ATL for Capela and Nance (both expiring).

Maybe GS: Expirings (Payton, Looney), talent (Moody or Kuminga), Kyle Anderon (would prefer filler as one or two small contracts but might have to take him for it to work) for CJ (add a pick for Ingram or Kuminga might be enough).

Maybe TOR: CJ for expirings (Brown + Boucher).

[BigGargamel]

Murray isn't getting traded unless the Pelicans are blown away. "Available" doesn't mean they're just gonna give him away. To move him to the Lakers, for example, for a crap package after what they gave up just a few months would be a catastrophically bad look.

[Chinook]

I wonder if the Spurs could make a move toward Murray now that he's not tied to ATL. He's a chucker, but he's shown before that he can be a "win-more" guy on a good defense. Adding him to guys like Wemby, Castle and Sochan could unlock that defensive potential once again. The question would be if he could balance his offense within a flowing system that already has a clear first option.

He'd have to clean up his shooting a lot for it to even be an option. But I also wasn't looking at this as an in-season trade. If in 2025-2026 he's shown he can hit shots at a decent rate, he might be someone the Spurs bring in to replace Paul. They should try to have a productive PG next to Castle and Wemby going forward, and with theirs and ATL's success, they aren't likely to get a star PG in the draft. I don't think they need to look for an All-Star at the position. They just need someone who can be a threat to score and who can keep the offense running both with and without Wemby. DJM is one of the better tier-3/4 guys for that purpose.