After a poor 2024-25 campaign, the Pelicans decided to hire new general manager Joe Dumars to make the difficult decisions needed going forward. The club’s front office are assessing their roster ahead of the NBA Draft, as they try to put the pieces together with their upcoming No. 7 overall pick.
According to Yahoo Sports’ Kevin O’Connor, even Zion Williamson is being considered as a potential trade, even though he averaged 24.6 points and 7.2 rebounds per contest this season, but just over 30 matches, as he missed out on the last several weeks with back pains.
“There are no untouchables in New Orleans,” the insider said. “League sources say the Pelicans are gauging the market for everyone on their roster. They very well could end up keeping their core pieces, but it appears the Pelicans are looking into taking different paths this summer depending on what opportunities become available.”
Things took a turn for the worst in the past weeks, as Zion has been named in a rape lawsuit alleging abuse that started during his time in college. However, his lawyer Michael Balascio, guaranteed the allegations are “categorically false and reckless,” and insist that the relationship was consensual.
“It’s really hard to see anybody paying a ton for him right now, but there are a very limited number of players in the league when healthy who are at or near the franchise-player tier,” an Eastern Conference executive said about Williamson some months ago.
The anonymous executive then added: “The only way you win at the highest level is to have a guy who can do the type of things he can do if he’s healthy. I would probably do something stupid to get him if it were me making decisions.”
The Pelicans might even consider waiving Zion and avoid spending $127 million over the final three years of his max contract extension. At this point, the only player with considerable trade value is Trey Murphy III, who averaged 21.2 points per game this campaign before tearing his labrum in March.
