Pelicans Reportedly Have 'No Untouchables' on Roster amid Zion Williamson Trade Rumors
Despite sending Zion Williamson to be their representative at the 2025 NBA draft lottery, the New Orleans Pelicans aren't closing themselves off from any deals this summer.
Per Yahoo Sports' Kevin O'Connor, they have "no untouchables" and are "gauging the market" for everyone on their roster.
A team coming off a 21-61 season whose best player is frequently injured shouldn't try to stay locked in to its current core. The Pelicans did gain some financial flexibility with their midseason trade of Brandon Ingram bringing them under the tax going into the 2025-26 campaign.
On the other hand, there are no indications at this point that Williamson is going to get moved.
In fact, The Athletic's William Guillory wrote on May 27 that the 24-year-old's presence as New Orleans' on-stage lottery representative was "very intentional" and there has "already been communication" between the two camps that a trade is "very unlikely" before the start of next season.
The Pelicans are in a no-win situation if they try to trade Williamson. His value would seemingly be low, at lesat relative to what it once was, due to his lengthy injury history.
It's also known that when the Duke product does play, he's capable of impacting games more than anyone else New Orleans currently has on its roster. In just 30 starts this season, he averaged 24.6 points, 7.2 rebounds and 5.3 assists.
Another thing that helps the Pelicans is Williamson's contract is structured in such a way that it's not really prohibitive for them because of how many benchmarks between games played and weigh-in checkpoints he has to hit or risk having the guarantees in his deal decrease.
The prime trade candidates on New Orleans' roster would seem to be CJ McCollum and Kelly Olynyk. When healthy, they were the Pelicans' only regular starters over the age of 30 and will both be entering the final season of their contracts.
McCollum's $30.7 million expiring salary, in particular, would likely be very appealing to teams with long-term apron concerns. It helps his value that he's still a quality player coming off a season in which he averaged 21.1 points on 37.3 percent three-point shooting.
New Orleans could enter next season with a core of Williamson, Trey Murphy III, Herb Jones and whomever it takes with the No. 7 overall pick in the 2025 draft. Jones would be the oldest player in that group at the start of next season when he turns 27 on Oct. 6.
Even though it's an extremely volatile group because of their age and injury histories, there's enough upside there for the Pelicans to believe they are on the right track after a disastrous 2024-25 season.
