The New Orleans Pelicans will likely look different the next time they come to the Smoothie King Center.
Will it look a lot different? Or just slightly different?
Those are the questions that will be answered in the next few days.
The Pelicans beat the Memphis Grizzlies 114-106 Friday night in the Pels’ final home game before Thursday’s NBA trade deadline.
After Friday’s victory, the Pelicans had 13 wins, 37 losses and zero draft picks.
So expect executive vice president of basketball operations Joe Dumars and his right-hand man Troy Weaver to make some type of move.
The players understand it.
“This is a business at the end of the day,” Pelicans’ guard Jose Alvarado said last week. “You never know. You might get a call. At the end of the day, it’s still basketball. With this group or any group, you just stay with it. If it happens, it happens. We can’t change nothing. So if you go to another team or not, you just play basketball. You’ve got to stay level-headed with this. Obviously. this time is a little stressful.”
Alvarado, who has a $4.5 million player option remaining on his deal after this season, has been linked to many trade rumors. He’s the type of player that some executives for title-contending teams think can get them over the hump. If Alvarado is traded, he ended with a bang at home, burying three 3-pointers in the third quarter to help the Pelicans outscore the Grizzlies 35-15 in the quarter.
“Jose did what Jose does,” said Pelicans’ interim coach James Borrego.
While Alvarado made his presence felt in Friday’s game, two of his teammates didn’t.
For the third consecutive game, Jordan Poole and Jordan Hawkins finished the night with a “DNP” beside their name in the box score. Borrego, when asked why Poole hasn’t played in three straight games, says it was just due to the new lineup he has used the last four games.
“I felt like this group gives us a chance out there to get after it defensively,” Borrego said. “I think we are just going to lean into a little bit of size right now and physicality and defense.”
That new lineup – Zion Williamson, Trey Murphy, Herb Jones, Sadiq Bey and Derik Queen- is 3-1 since Borrego started using it. (The Pelicans play at the Philadelphia 76ers Saturday night.)
The new lineup has played much better defensively. It’s a small sample size, but the difference in play is obvious.
With Poole and Hawkins not playing, it leads you to believe the Pelicans would move on from them if they could. Poole’s contract (one year and $34 million after this season) and the way he’s played likely won’t have Dumars’ phone ringing off the hook. Hawkins, meanwhile, has seen his production slip, too. He averaged 10.8 points last season. His scoring has dipped to 4.3 points this season. He’s shooting just 30.1 % on 3-pointers. Shooting from long range was supposed to be his strength when he arrived in New Orleans. He’s probably the most likely player to be traded.
Saturday marks the 1-year anniversary of guard Dejounte Murray tearing his Achilles in a game against the Boston Celtics. Murray has been rehabbing away from New Orleans.
Borrego, when asked in early January if he expects Murray to play this season, had this to say.
“I can’t say for sure,” Borrego said. “I can’t go there. We just don’t know until we see him live on the court. That would be the goal, but I can’t say for sure. We’ll just have to see for sure once he’s back in our building, and once we get our eyes on him once he gets on the court.”
Murray is the third highest paid player on the roster. If the Pelicans move him before the trade deadline, it would be to a team willing to take a chance on a player coming off a tough injury.
Veteran center Kevon Looney has played in just 17 games since coming to New Orleans from Golden State. A team looking for a reserve center and some veteran leadership might be interested.
And finally, there is Yves Missi. The second-year center’s name has been coming up in trade talks as well. Missi started 67 games in his first season on his way to being named second team on the All-Rookie team. This year, Missi has started just seven games. But over the last week, he’s played his best ball since entering the league.
“He’s playing at an elite level,” Borrego said. “His motor. His energy. He just looks like a grownup out there impacting in a major way.”
A first round draft pick for Missi would be enticing. A second-round pick or two probably wouldn’t be.
Those are the players the Pelicans would most likely consider trading. The ones they won’t are Williamson, Murphy, Jones, along with rookies Queen, Jeremiah Fears and Micah Peavy. Best guess here is you can throw Bey into the mix of untouchables as well. Bey has arguably been the Pels most consistent and reliable players this season. Weaver, while working for the Detroit Pistons, drafted Bey. He believed in him then and likely still does after the season he’s having.
Dumars last spoke to the media in mid-November when he fired Willie Green. He's kept his plans close to the vest.
Borrego says his conversations with Dumars have been “upbeat” and “positive.”
“We are very clear about where we’re at and what we are looking to do,” Borrego said. “There is clarity in our conversations. There is honesty in our conversations. There’s transparency in our conversations. … Are there things we (the team) could get better at? Yeah. Joe and I are very aware of that and we’re talking through that. But the goal is to stay together, be transparent about where we’re at and stay focused on the goal which is to compete and build an identity.”
What the Pelicans do as the trade deadline approaches should tell us more.