The New Orleans Pelicans were one of the worst teams in the NBA in 2025/26, but given the talented core pieces leading the organization, there’s definitely untapped potential there that they have not been able to unlock in recent years.
At the trade deadline last season, the Pelicans dealt Jose Alvarado to the New York Knicks, but beyond that they were rather quiet despite the speculation around players like Herb Jones and Trey Murphy. Those rumors continued into the off-season, but again, the Pelicans decided not to make a move to the surprise of the NBA world, and now Joe Dumars has revealed the reason behind it.
No Deal Made Sense for the New Orleans Pelicans
GettyTrey Murphy III of the New Orleans Pelicans.
The NBA community on social media often jokes that the Pelicans are the worst team in NBA history to have several ‘untouchable’ players on their roster, and given the refusal to deal Jones, Murphy or even Yves Missi, with the latter garnering plenty of attention this summer, the jokes simply write themselves.
However, the trades were there to be made with a team that’s continued adding young talent to their roster, but as of right now, the team just haven’t made them, as they will go into 2026/27 with much of the same roster that saw them go 26-56 a season ago. Now, Head of Basketball Operations Joe Dumars has revealed why a move wasn’t made this off-season, stating that the ‘right’ deal to make them better just didn’t appear despite all of the speculation.
“The lack of moves being made right now is not from a lack of effort or us deciding we didn’t want to do anything,” Dumars said. “We’ve engaged with a lot of teams this offseason. But there was just no big deal that I felt was going to make us better for us to pull the trigger on.”
Can the Pelicans Make the NBA Playoffs in 2026/27?
The talent remains however, with the team boasting a starting lineup that includes Dejounte Murray, Saddiq Bey, Murphy, Jones and Zion Williamson, and with Jeremiah Fears and Derik Queen coming off the bench, the future clearly appears to be bright.
Unfortunately, the team are yet to properly build around their young stars, and while the roster is currently good, there’s just no one there that elevates them to NBA Playoffs level, and until the team accept a deal that gets them a significant amount of assets for their good, but not great players, this team is going to be stuck in the middle.
Ultimately though, it makes sense for the team to not make a blockbuster deal until the right one comes along, but given their unwillingness to move players that have never even taken them to .500 or better in a season, this is a team that will likely continue to struggle until they change something in a big way, and this summer, they didn’t do that.
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