{"id":570313,"date":"2026-01-30T07:36:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T07:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/570313\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T07:36:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T07:36:08","slug":"proposed-pelicans-trade-sees-new-orleans-finally-blow-up-deal-zion-williamson-for-total-rebuild-package-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/570313\/","title":{"rendered":"Proposed Pelicans trade sees New Orleans finally blow up, deal Zion Williamson for total rebuild package"},"content":{"rendered":"

Proposed Pelicans trade sees New Orleans finally blow up, deal Zion Williamson for total rebuild package<\/a> originally appeared on The Sporting News<\/a>. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The New Orleans Pelicans<\/a> face a real problem: they\u2019re dead last in the Western Conference, and have no pick in 2026. However, they might have a way to at least profit somewhat from this conundrum.<\/p>\n

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Fansided\u2019s Christopher Kline<\/a> proposes that the Pelicans can get a pick in the 2026 draft and some assets by finally blowing up, and trading Zion Williamson to the Chicago Bulls<\/a>.<\/p>\n

MORE:\u00a0Proposed Heat trade sees Miami deal Jaime Jaquez-based package for $197 million two-time All-Star, All-NBA guard<\/a><\/p>\n

The trade would look like this:<\/p>\n

Bulls get: F Zion Williamson, F\/C Kevon Looney<\/p>\n

Pelicans get: F\/C Zach Collins, G Kevin Huerter, G Dalen Terry, CHI 2026 first-round pick<\/p>\n

\u201cThe New Orleans Pelicans technically cannot tank, as their pick belongs to the Atlanta Hawks<\/a>. Even so, the Pelicans can tank in spirit, as it’s time to give this roster a proper teardown. Really, that just means it’s time to move on from Zion Williamson. The dream felt alive as recently as last year, but no matter how well he plays, the fear of that next injury is irrepressible\u2026Even without a jumper, even without much of a defensive impact, Zion can elevate a team when he’s on the floor. Chicago’s up-tempo play style should match Williamson extremely well, too.,\u201d Kline wrote.<\/p>\n

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MORE:\u00a0Proposed blockbuster Knicks trade sees New York swap Karl Anthony-Towns for $205 million two-time All-Star, DPOY<\/a><\/p>\n

This trade does work for both sides. The Bulls finally get another All-Star, hopefully one that can elevate them from being a perennial play-in team, and the Pelicans get a first-round pick in 2026, along with role players they can either flip, or use to build around their next generation.<\/p>\n

Speaking of the next generation, this move would also effectively hand the keys to the team from Williamson, to Derik Queen and Jeremiah Fears. The Pelicans can then use the cap space they gained from moving Williamson to build a team around their young duo.<\/p>\n

Hopefully, the Pelicans consider this proposal, and get to work on making a deal with the Bulls before the trade deadline.<\/p>\n

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MORE\u00a0NBA<\/a>\u00a0CONTENT<\/p>\n

Proposed Celtics trade sees Boston deal Anfernee Simons-package for $97 million center to upgrade from Neemias Queta<\/a><\/p>\n

Proposed Spurs trade sees San Antonio go all-in this season, replace Harrison Barnes with $112 million 22.3 PPG forward<\/a><\/p>\n

Proposed three-team blockbuster Warriors trade sees Golden State deal Jonathan Kuminga for $179 million 25.8 PPG NBA champ, would also replace Jimmy Butler<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Proposed Pelicans trade sees New Orleans finally blow up, deal Zion Williamson for total rebuild package originally appeared…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":531959,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3796],"tags":[208,7,329,45663,803,983,4103,2967,295,6,478,470,4073,4072,675,4439,574,4104,814],"class_list":{"0":"post-570313","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-orleans-pelicans","8":"tag-atlanta-hawks","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-chicago-bulls","11":"tag-christopher-kline","12":"tag-derik-queen","13":"tag-jeremiah-fears","14":"tag-kevin-huerter","15":"tag-kevon-looney","16":"tag-miami","17":"tag-nba","18":"tag-new-orleans","19":"tag-new-orleans-pelicans","20":"tag-neworleans","21":"tag-neworleanspelicans","22":"tag-pelicans","23":"tag-the-pelicans","24":"tag-western-conference","25":"tag-zach-collins","26":"tag-zion-williamson"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115982905162446826","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570313","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=570313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/531959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=570313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=570313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=570313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}