The New Orleans Pelicans set out this offseason to shake up their roster. They finished two games out of a spot in the NBA Play-In Tournament and they have to start winning games sooner than later.
New Orleans is under a lot of pressure as there are already rumors floating around that Zion Williamson’s camp doesn’t want him in New Orleans. That is something David Griffin has to change, as the team most recently went through an ugly parting of the ways with Anthony Davis.
Griffin needs to start building some goodwill with Williamson and the easiest way to do that is by winning some games. It is questionable if the moves made this offseason will help in that area right away.
New Orleans cut some salary by trading away Eric Bledsoe and Steven Adams for Jonas Valanciunas. They included a 2022 first-round pick from the Los Angeles Lakers to get it done and swapped first and second-round picks in the 2021 NBA Draft.
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The team also didn’t match an offer sheet for Lonzo Ball, instead, agreeing to a sign-and-trade deal with the Chicago Bulls. They missed out on Kyle Lowry as well, which led to landing Devonte’ Graham in a sign-and-trade with the Charlotte Hornets.
It can be argued that this offseason was a downgrade for the team. Could a trade of Brandon Ingram shake things up enough to get the team on track to win some games? Plenty of teams would love to acquire Ingram and in this hypothetical deal, the Orlando Magic come away with him.
What could a deal between the teams look like? Let’s take a look at this Pelicans and Magic trade centered on Ingram.