Pelicans Supporters Need to Know This About Their 2025 OFFSEASON Moves

Pelicans Supporters Need to Know This About Their 2025 OFFSEASON Moves

You are now listening to the Pelicans postgame report flash report. For all things Pelicans, you’re now listening to the Pelican Postgame Report. I am Big Q kicking it in with y’all for this episode of PPR. Hit the like button, hit the subscribe button, and by all means, feel free to share share the show on your social media feed. Let’s get into it. NBA offseason check-in New Orleans Pelicans. Just to go over, this is a brief recap of what happened to the Pelicans off season, right? And this is a good breakdown right here done by Hoops Hype as they kind of uh a hoops rumors are letting people know about that and and just to remind the faithful how far we’ve come from last year to this year. Right. So the free agent signings Kavon Looney two years $16 million second year uh second year as a team option signed using a nine taxpayer mid-level assumption. So adding Kavon Looney to the Pelican squad gave them a a undersized big who’s extremely intelligent, plays good defense, really does a solid job on the offensive boards. We all can always use it there. Very smart player that was one of the centerpieces that helped the Golden State Warriors win multiple championships out there in the West. But this is the thing that we getting Kavon Looney’s in later, you know, a couple years later on with the team, but we can still get good value out of Kavon, a smart player that helped the Pelicans. They also signed Jaden Springer, a one-year minimum salary, nine guaranteed exhibit N player using the min the minimum salary exception trades that happened. We talked about the Pelicans sending that uh you know pick the 2023 pick in the 25 draft and uh you know from you know and the player of Mojave King to the Pacers in exchange for their 2026 first round pick. Pelicans had acquired the Pacers 2026 first round pick with four with with top four protection in the previous trade. Basically the Golden I mean the Indiana Pacers acquired the pick back. So what did they do? acquiring the draft rights to Derek Queen with the 13th pick this year. The Hawks in exchange for the rights to Asa Newell the 23rd pick and either the Pelicans or Bucks 2026 first round pick whichever is more favorable acquiring Jordan Pool Sadique Bay and the draft rights to Mika Peavey right Peavey. So number 40th pick from the Wizards in the three team trade including CJ McCullum, Kelly Olenick and the Bulls 2027 second round pick and the draft rights to Mojave King who went to the Rockets. The draft picks right that were picked up by the team of course is Jeremiah Fierce who signed the rookie scale contract four years over 34 million. Derek Queen signed his rookie deal four years at 24.3 plus. Mr. Peavey signed a 4-year deal at 8.6 plus. The first two years are guaranteed. The third year nine guaranteed. The fourth year is a team option. So, we’ll see how that plays. The two-way sign is for the Pelicans. We have three two-ways on the team. Trey Alexander, the guard, one year, 85,000 plus partial guaranteed. That’s due to increase to over 318 grand at the start of the regular season. That’s a big boost. Hunter Dickerson, the big center 7footer who has a soft touch around the rim. One year 85 point uh 85,300 partial guarantee with an increase of the same amount over 318,000. Bryce McGawan’s one year 85 uh grand and which will increase at 318 uh plus at the start of the regular season. So the two ways there. Trey Alexander is a very interesting prospect. Hunter Dickerson, the Pelicans played in the summer league. like what he did, wanted to bring him on to the team they did with the two-year contract. McGomeas is also an interesting two-way prospect. These are the under the departed or unsigned free agents. Brandon Boston Jr. who went overseas. Keon Brooks Jr. unsigned. Bruce Brown who went to the Nuggets. Jamal Kane signed with the Magic. Alfred Payeyton is still unsigned. And Jeremiah Robinson Earl is also unsigned. Other moves this Pelicans also made in signings. They resigned Herb Jones to a three-year deal at over $67 million. Extension kicks in uh in the uh in the start well in the 2027 28 year and includes a thirdyear player option. So Joe Dumar’s committing to Herb Jones giving Trey uh paper as well. Trey got his paper, Herb got his this his deal which is great. They waved Antonio Reeves on a nine guaranteed contract. A lot of people didn’t like that. I think he got picked up by somebody. I know Lester Quinones also got picked up by somebody. Uh but Reeds was a a favorite. A lot of people like was in the summer league, showed some stuff, but Dum Mars them chose to Joe and Troy Weaver decided to go in a different direction. How’s the cap situation look for the faithful right now? The the Pelicans are operating over the cap. 54 plus mill below the the luxury tax of over 187.9 carrying approximately 83.7 million in salary. Now they’re hardcapped at 195.9 plus can’t go over that. And a portion of the non- taxpayer mid-level exception which is 61 I mean excuse me 6.1 plus is available. So they still have a portion of the non- taxpayer mid-level exception which is over 6 million. They still have access to the full bianual exception which is 5.1 plus and they have they they’ve the three traded player exceptions available is the largest one of them is 13.4 plus mil. So the pelicans still have some tricks in their bag if they want to do some stuff right. So, we’ll just, you know, just to make make note of that. That’s the money situation. The off season so far, the future of New Orleans has looked bright during David Griffin’s first year as the uh operations chief in 201920. The Pelicans had just acquired a hall of players and draft picks headlined by BI from the Lakers in exchange for AD and lucked into the number one pick, which was Zion Williamson, who looked like a natural successor to Davis. uh as to Zion BI and a handful of other key players consistently derailed the team’s forward momentum. During Griffin’s six years on the job, the Pelicans posted a winning record just twice and compiled a total of two playoff victories and a brief uh pair of brief postseason appearances. The organization still hasn’t given up on Zion, who has missed more regular season games, 258 during his first six years, than he’s played, which is 214. That’s crazy work, right? You know, that’s crazy work. How how 258 versus 214. That’s so crazy. And faced a lawsuit this spring accusing him of rape and abuse. But Ingram was traded in February and Griffin was subsequently replaced during the spring by Pistons general manager, Joe Dumar. The decision to hire Joe Dumar raised some eyebrows. a long-term executive was the architect of Detroit’s team that advanced to at least the Eastern Conference Finals six straight years during the 2000s, but the second half of his tenure with the Pistons produced underwhelming results, and it has been a while since he’s even been involved in personnel decisions for an NBA team. He worked in the league office for the past 3 years. So, Joel’s first summer in New Orleans has been a fascinating one. On the surface, many of the moves he has made point toward a soft reset for the Pelicans. The club added a pair of rookies in the draft of Jeremiah Fierce and Derek Queen and got younger in a trade with CJ Calonic to the Wizards in exchange for pool Sadique Bay and second round pick Mr. Peavey with the Jonte Murray still recovering from that torn Achilles injury that figures to keep him on the shelf for at least the start of the season. Herb and Trey Murphy the third coming off shoulder surgeries and even Bay Steel making his way back from an ACL tear. There’s a world in which the Pelicans take a patient approach in the 2526 campaign, wait for all their key players to get healthy and evaluate the core players and rookies to see how they all fit together before pushing forward in 2627. But it doesn’t seem like the approach is the one Joe Dumar has in mind. the price uh to trade up from 23 to 13 for Queen. But it’s but it doesn’t seem like the approach is the one Joe Dumar and the Pelicans have in mind. The price to trade up from 23 to 13 for Queen was New Orleans 2026 first round pick which will will be the most favorable for the Pelicans own first rounder and Bucks firstrounder. That unprotected pick was sent to Atlanta for the rights to draft Queen leaving New Orleans without a first round selection next year and strongly suggesting that tanking won’t be a consideration. And that’s a part of the game. There is no more patient approach here. And that’s Joe Dumar’s coming in here because the last uh that’s been a major problem with the Pelicans organization is the lack of aggression. The constant ridiculous talking points about uh all this stuff that David Griffin was talking about was was weakening the team. There was a soft, if pardon my French, ass team. We can’t have that no more. We need players that commit to gaining a tough identity in the city of New Orleans. We are a strong, resilient, bluecollar city. We work hard and we don’t take no mess. That should be the mentality that this team has. There should be nothing soft about the New Orleans Pelicans. That’s how you get respect. It is not going to be easy to come to Smoothie King Center and beat the Pelicans without leaving with some lumps and bumps and bruises and some respect for what we do here. That should been in the talking point. I’m glad Joe Dumas is here because he brings the tough ass mentality that he played with from Detroit and and what he instilled in the first several years of his team success in winning a championship coach as you know as a excuse me as an administrator by architecting this thing. This could be a similar situation with better results because he didn’t have to take everything. He had to start basically a new Detroit fell into a terrible situation and started losing for a long time before he had to build it up again. The Pelicans have the pieces in place. They just needed a leader and direction. The main uh uh issue to the Pelicans outside of health is the direction of the team on the court, which ties to the head coach. Now, let’s get back to this article. If Queen turns into an impact player and that quote most favorable 2026 pick ends up in mid to late teens, the trade would be a coup for Dumars. But it carries remarkable risk given the Pelicans is coming off a 21 win season and probably won’t have its starting guard available when the 25 26 season tip offs. So basically does that something all these other people want to build stories about? Not saying this this is writer, but we’ve heard it all before. We heard of ESPN and all these other clowns, Fox and all this talk about the worst trade of the season was the Pelicans giving up an unprotected pick to get at Queen, move up several spots or so to go and get Queen. And Joe Dumar said in the press conference is that they have their first round draft pick from next year. He said that. But the thing is they’re focusing on it and they’re so stupid they don’t realize that you don’t you don’t make a comment. Now I ain’t going to see you make a comment, but you don’t grade the the the the trade until after you see what fruits it have. Cuz if the Pelicans are in the playoffs, then you won’t say nothing about that stupid ass pick. You get what I’m saying? They got two lottery selections in one year. Both of those guys, the Pelicans had very high grades on. And when they pulled the trigger to get two lottery picks in the same year they believe those guys are and they win. And like I said, Joe said that that they got their first round draft pick from next year on the team. In the competitive Western Conference, they’re far from a lock to make the playoffs. And while it doesn’t look like uh Giannis is going anywhere at this point, the Bucks pick has real lottery upside too in the event uh uh that he’s injured a trade. Even though the Pelicans are relatively confident, another 21 season and on tap. The 39 win Mavericks just provided a reminder that the flatten lottery odds open the door for a middle of the pack team to claim a top pick. The Pelicans know his firsthand having jumped from seven and the pre-law ordered to get Zion and Williams Zion back in 2019. Now the pressure will be on Willie Green. This is where it gets to turn things around after a disappointing 24-25 season. Dums who has long been fond of Green nearly drafted him for the Pistons in 03. He opted not to make a head coaching change immediately after taking the reigns because Gail Benson told him that Willie stays. She let him do everything else but told uh Joe Dumas that Will she wants Willie to remain and prove himself this year. Willie has one year left on his contract. So I whether Willie he he’s fine to Willie or not, Willie Green has to win. And that’s the that is outside of the health stab is two of the biggest things the Pelicans have to deal with is the health and the coaching direction. Now, I think this team is deep enough to kind of deal with some of this stuff. But like I said, man, you never can tell with the Pelicans. Green, you know, now, however, if the Pelicans underachieve again in 25 26, it’s not hard to imagine that Willie Green being the next NBA head coach finds himself on the hot seat. Willie Green is the number one coach on the hot seat right now. Absolutely. Starting the season, he knows it. We we uploaded one of the videos, his latest uh interview with Fletcher Mack. Shout out to him at WDSU talking to Willie Green. Boy, that raccoon mask is getting darker and darker. Willie Green is is is the number one NBA coach on head coach on the hot seat right now. He definitely is. Everything has been changed about this team in so far as the administrators. All those guys from Griffin and all his people, all those guys are gone. So Willie Green don’t have anybody in office outside of Gail. uh you know, Jazzy Jeffing in in in cheerleading form, but if he doesn’t produce, you know, produce the wins. Listen, I’m going to just say this straight up. Willie the the Pelicans are not going to go through a full season of Willie Green stumbling and bumbling. They got in their minds, there’s a there’s a there’s a plan. If Willie wins so many games or what not, then he stays on with the team. That could be a future for Willie Green if he could prove that he can win and step up his stuff. A lot of people have their doubts, including me, cuz we’ve seen enough of Willie Green. And adjusting is not something Willie Green does well. Strategy is not something Willie Green does well. Motivating players is not something Willie Green does well. And those are key things that you need to have to be other coaches that have those same skills greater than your own. You see, that’s where that stands himself fired. That’s the big part on when we talk about basketball outside of health. That’s really everybody’s gearing it to. I think Willie Green is a nice guy, but nice guy ain’t got to do with winning no no ball games. You can be a bit of a of a a-hole if you got to, but at the same time, if you can get people to relate to you, you’re going to be fine. And also, Willie Green lost this team last year. So, how does he then gain the confidence of a team that did not want to play for him and only and know that he’s here because the owners is keeping him here because the general manager more than likely would have got rid of him and bring his own guy in. James Burggo is in is instrumental as well in case that happens. But they’re not going to wait a full year to f around with Willie Green. No, Willie Green has up to a certain point, a certain amount of games how this team looks before Joe Dumos pulls that guillotine string and that blade comes slashing down. In addition to Fierce, Queen Pool, and Bay, the Pelicans other notable newcomers this offseason was longtime warrior center Kevon Looney. While I have some reservations about Queen Pool Bay trades, I like Looney signing. He has long been an underrated defender and rebounder and he’s still just 29 years of age. He has a two-year $16 million contract. One of the years is guaranteed. He should bring some added stability to the center position for the Pelicans as they rely on yet young yeier as a start in 24-25. Kavon Looney is definitely coming into if you had to if the Pelicans had to start a game uh next week. The starting lineup for the Pelicans coming out that joint is definitely Kevon Looney at five. You got, you know, these these are the five guys. Kayvon Looney, Zion Williamson, Trey Murphy, Herb Jones, and and Jordan P. That’s your five. And that’s a beautiful five, too, because you got a smart undersized big that gets offensive rebounds, that runs the floor well. He’s very efficient in what he does, and fits well with these other players. His his temperament, he brings toughness, he brings championship experience. Jordan Pul is a former teammate to him, so that’s some synergy and chemistry that those two guys can have from the Golden State days. Jordan’s a 20 point scorer. Can light it up from downtown. Can also pass the ball. Can also benefit from Zion Williamson’s gravity when guys doubling and triple down on Zion. Trey Murphy’s there. Jordan Pool’s there. Herb Jones can hit wide open shots when he need to. And you have Kavon Looney moving and and cutting and doing what you got to do. And also Kavon Looney is a very underrated passing big too. So he makes the Pelicans smarter defensively as well as offensively. Very smart moves. We’ll figure out the bench, but that’s what I got on that. Then up next, what’s next? Pelicans carrying 14 players on guaranteed contracts for the upcoming year. With Jaden Springer signing a nine guaranteed exhibit 9 contract, the three two-way slots have been filled. New Orleans has about 4.2 million in breathing room below the tax line, which is more than enough for a 15th man on a minimum salary contract. It’s possible the team will leave the spot open to start the season for sakes of flex flexibility. It probably makes sense for depth purposes to fill it. Even that Murray likely won’t be ready to play and a few other players will be managing carefully as they return from m from some major injuries. Springer may be the 15th man candidate for now, but the Pelicans could bring in a couple more vets on training camp deals to compete for the spot. And since whomever makes the team will likely be a non-g guaranteed contract, the Pels will have the flexibility to wave that player a month or two into the regular season without the Pelicans already took care of the top extension candidate this off season by signing Jones to a three-year 67 plus million deal. That was a smart move that should pay off, especially if he’s if Jones already one of NBA’s best defenders can continue developing and expanding his offensive game, which is what he was doing before he got hurt. You know, we going to have some flexibility to wave a player a month or, you know, during the without paying a full salary, which would be interesting. They will likely be the last extension the Pelicans sign before the regular season begins. Williamson and P will both be eligible to sign new deals, but the club seems extremely unlikely to further invest in that duo at this point given they both still have multiple years left on their contracts. Pool has yet to even play a game as a Pelican while Williamson will at least need an extension run of good health or an extended run rather of good health to warrant another significant commitment from the Pelicans. This is a huge year for the Pelicans in in terms of design Williamson situation because uh this is another general manager coming here and an opportunity to build the Pelicans the correct way and until um Joe and like I said and it makes sense because Kine Looney and and and Jordan Pool are on two-year deals that is a good window to see if this team could play this year. And I like what uh you heard what coach I mean we heard what Joe Dumas said during the Saints uh some of us some of you probably didn’t hear about what Joe Dumas was saying about the Saints I mean excuse me about the Pelicans Zion Williamson how he’s out there in California training and and he was given big uh credit and praise. There was also a situation where the Pelicans, he also made mention as well is that he talked to these every he talked to the players and told him if they weren’t happy being in New Orleans that he would happily find them a place to play. And I I think a lot of the people are the players on the team want to play and and want to see what this looks like, right? Zion finally will be the centerpiece of the team. the pressure and like I said people asking me Q what do you think about in this type of thing we covered it so many shows on PPR and our longer stream shows which will be coming up soon is the fact that the the Pelicans have officially made Zion the centerpiece they that was just lip service under David Griffin he he was too scared to commit to anything so it’s Zion’s team the Pelicans are not going to be handling this with kid gloves with Zion Williamson they want to finally see if he has what it takes to lead a team to the playoffs. Joe Dumar is not playing for the future. He’s playing for right now. The team with with Jordan P who’s a 20 point scorer who can fill it up. Herb Jones will be coming back from from injury and playing his defense. He going to get back to where he was the wide open three-point shots. He has to improve that. Trey Murphy is ready for a bigger role with the team. You know, there’s no more BI in his way. It’s now Trey have an opportunity to show what he can do. He’s healthy. And of course the additions of Kon Looney uh them adding uh a good bench Sadique Bay 15 points a game good player having him there bringing Jordan Hawkins along adding the young talent of Queen and Fierce to come off the bench helps to have a brighter future for the Pelicans and if Zion struggles you know once Queen’s healthy perhaps they move him in there having Eve’s game continue to develop the teams also uh add some interesting players there and they’re not done yet. Now, we know I think the biggest question mark in terms of the players is what do the Pelicans do with the Jonte Murray? Because we know De Jonte was one of the most vocal opponents of the old Pelicans, right? So, he’s not healthy enough to be traded right now, but once he becomes healthy in his $30 million contract, how do the Pelicans then handle that? And it’ll be an interesting thing because, you know, when Jonte Murray comes back from injury, do we still have Willie Green as the head coach? So, a lot of things could be changing between now and then. So, one of the most key positions for the Pelicans is the head coach. And there’s so much strife around that situation that happened last year for Willie Green. And his just his temperament watching these interviews, he’s not saying nothing anything new. I don’t think he has a clue of what to do. I don’t think he picked up anything. He learned anything to get better. If he did, he’s not showing it in these interviews. He still sounds the same. His answers are still uh boring and bland and there is no faith in Willie Green and he knows it and only way he’s here because of the the ownership. These are things that we have to deal with with the faithful. But that’s just a brief recap. uh you know just just laying it on the line uh for the Pelicans and giving you guys the rundown on the Pelicans going into this up year as we get ready to it as we got what about a month or so before we get ready for some basketball again. It’s getting close. All right. So anyway, with that being said, man, y’all let me know how y’all feel about this in the comments section below. Put it in the damn comment section below. Let me know how you feel about this article, about this information. What do you guys think the biggest hang-ups are for the Pelicans? And what do you how do we fix them? What do you think about the Jonte Murray? Could he fit with what the Pelicans do? Or is he possible a possible trade candidate? What do you guys think about all this stuff? Put it in the comments section below and let me know. With that being said, man, I’m going to get out on that. I appreciate all you guys for uh being on the show tonight. Uh, please feel free to hit the like button, hit the sub button, and the share button, and that little notification button for more PPR Flash reports. Shout out to DC and Lex and the flocking community, man. We going to holl at you on the next one. Much love, peace, and go. Subscribe now and stay up to date for all things New Orleans Pelicans.

Big Q provides a brief recap of the New Orleans Pelicans’ NBA offseason trades, covering key acquisitions and departures. Get the latest Pelicans news and insight on Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson as we head into the new season. Listen to the full Pelicans podcast for more analysis.

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