{"id":569826,"date":"2026-01-30T02:31:30","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T02:31:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/569826\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T02:31:30","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T02:31:30","slug":"pelicans-rumors-draft-missi-morant-murray-alvarado-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/569826\/","title":{"rendered":"Pelicans Rumors: Draft, Missi, Morant, Murray, Alvarado, More"},"content":{"rendered":"

Acquiring a 2026 first-round pick is a priority for the Pelicans as the trade deadline approaches, Will Guillory of The Athletic<\/a> writes, confirming reporting<\/a> from ClutchPoints and The Stein Line. New Orleans would like to continue adding to its young core but no longer controls a \u201926 first-rounder after trading its own pick to Atlanta last June for Derik Queen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With the Pelicans resistant<\/a> to moving Zion Williamson<\/a>, Trey Murphy III<\/a>, and Herbert Jones<\/a>, their best bet to acquire that 2026 first-rounder they\u2019re seeking might be making a Yves Missi<\/a> deal. But it\u2019s not a foregone conclusion that the second-year center will be on the move in the next seven days \u2014 Guillory says New Orleans still believe in Missi\u2019s upside and wouldn\u2019t mind experimenting more with a frontcourt that features him playing alongside Queen.<\/p>\n

Still, according to Guillory, there have been \u201cwhispers\u201d throughout the season about Missi\u2019s desire to be in a situation where he could be a full-time starter. The 21-year-old made 67 starts for New Orleans as a rookie but has primarily come off the bench this season.<\/p>\n

Guillory suggests that the Pelicans\u2019 ability to extract a first-round pick for Missi could come into focus within the next week as it becomes clearer which centers around the NBA will and won\u2019t be on the move at the deadline.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s more on the Pelicans:<\/p>\n

A rumor about the Grizzlies sending Ja Morant<\/a> to New Orleans in a deal centered around Jordan Poole<\/a> and Dejounte Murray<\/a> is \u201ccompletely false,\u201d Guillory says, adding that the Pelicans aren\u2019t likely to pursue Morant since they view Jeremiah Fears<\/a> as their long-term point guard. Still, Poole and Murray are both considered potential trade candidates and there\u2019s a sense that New Orleans would like to move at least one of them, Guillory notes. He also hears, as ClutchPoints reported on Wednesday<\/a>, that Murray and his representatives may prefer a change of scenery.
\nThere\u2019s no shortage of suitors for Pelicans guard Jose Alvarado<\/a>, says Guillory, adding the Spurs to the list of teams with interest. But sources familiar with Alvarado\u2019s thinking have conveyed to The Athletic that the 27-year-old would prefer to remain in New Orleans.
\nBoth the Pelicans and Jordan Hawkins<\/a> would be open to the possibility of finding the former lottery pick a new NBA home, Guillory reports. Hawkins is playing a career-low 14.1 minutes per game off the bench this season and is averaging just 4.3 points per game on .320\/.301\/.778 shooting.
\nThe Pelicans are \u201cbig believers\u201d in two-way player Bryce McGowens<\/a> and would like to make room on the 15-man roster to promote him to a multiyear standard contract, Guillory writes. The club currently has a full roster but could open up a spot as a result of its deadline moves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Acquiring a 2026 first-round pick is a priority for the Pelicans as the trade deadline approaches, Will Guillory…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":70064,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3796],"tags":[7,7214,2878,178,983,5316,2771,11053,6,478,470,4073,4072,675,1259],"class_list":{"0":"post-569826","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-orleans-pelicans","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-bryce-mcgowens","10":"tag-dejounte-murray","11":"tag-ja-morant","12":"tag-jeremiah-fears","13":"tag-jordan-hawkins","14":"tag-jordan-poole","15":"tag-jose-alvarado","16":"tag-nba","17":"tag-new-orleans","18":"tag-new-orleans-pelicans","19":"tag-neworleans","20":"tag-neworleanspelicans","21":"tag-pelicans","22":"tag-yves-missi"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115981705929023087","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=569826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569826\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=569826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=569826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=569826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}