Self-awareness is key in all aspects of life. It’s essential around the NBA trade deadline.
At this point in the NBA calendar, teams spend countless hours evaluating assets and what it may cost to load up for the present or prepare for the future.
Getting that process right doesn’t begin with assessing the other 29 teams. It’s about looking in the mirror.
This is especially true for a team like the Pelicans.
After losing six in a row and 11 of the last 14, the confidence this group once exuded has slipped considerably. Losing your two best players for multiple weeks will have that effect.
However, the bigger concern is the ground they’ve lost in the race in the West during this recent rough patch. After holding the second-best record in the conference at the beginning of the month, New Orleans and the 13th-seeded Lakers are now only separated by three games.
After missing 29 games with a toe injury, Brandon Ingram finally returned to the lineup on Wednesday. It was the jolt of life the Pels needed to regain some of their swagger. But it also heightened the sense of urgency around everyone within the organization.
If they’re going to move back into the upper echelon of the West, they need to start showing it sooner rather than later, with a brutal road trip coming next week, including games in Milwaukee, Denver and Dallas.
And this is where self-reflection comes into play.
It’s clear the Pelicans have enough talent to be considered a serious threat to make the Western Conference Finals when fully healthy. Zion Williamson, Ingram and CJ McCollum have what it takes to trade blows with anyone when they’re at their best.
It makes sense for a team with those aspirations and this amount of talent to seriously consider what it takes to go after difference-makers like OG Anunoby, Bojan Bogdanović and John Collins.
But the Pelicans are in a unique position.
Their “Big 3” has only played 172 minutes together this season. As good as they’ve looked in stretches, they still have a long way to go in developing the chemistry and cohesion needed to perform on the playoff stage.
History tells us experience is one of the most valuable commodities any team can bring into the postseason, and the Pelicans are severely lacking in that area. Ingram got his first taste of the brightest lights last season, and Zion still hasn’t registered his first playoff minutes yet.
Even with the addition of another savvy veteran, the Pels would be fighting an uphill battle against battle-tested teams like Golden State, Memphis, Dallas, Phoenix, Denver and the LA Clippers.
That doesn’t mean New Orleans can’t take any of them down in a playoff series. When fully healthy, the Pels have enough firepower to give anyone a scare.
The real question is this: how much of the future should they be willing to sacrifice to gain a better chance in the present?
Ingram and Williamson are obviously untouchable. Dyson Daniels and Trey Murphy are considered core pieces of the puzzle. Herb Jones, Jose Alvarado and Naji Marshall are viewed in a similar light, but it’s even harder to find deals that work with them because each is making less than $2 million this season.
Devonte’ Graham and Jaxson Hayes are the main culprits who have been coming up in Pelicans trade rumors since the summer. They’ve shown some flashes, but they hold little value in the open market.
Most of the conversation around New Orleans heading into the deadline will be the franchise’s willingness to give up a first-round pick (or two) to make a deal happen. They have future picks from the Lakers (2024 or 2025) and the Bucks (2027) in the treasure trove, along with swap rights with the Lakers in 2023.
The Pelicans can put enough on the table to make themselves a serious player for just about anyone expected to be available ahead of the deadline on Feb. 9.
This is where self-reflection comes into play again.
Would it make sense for this team to give up future picks to improve the current roster?
And that question goes beyond whether it’s worth it to give up future picks for Bogdanovic or Collins.
The much more important evaluation is how New Orleans plans on building out a roster in the near future with Williamson, Ingram and McCollum all making $30-plus million per season. In 2023-24, the “Big 3” and Valanciunas are on the books for more than $118 million.
That’s just four players.
As much as they’ve avoided it in the past, it’s becoming clear the Pelicans will eventually have to pay the luxury tax sometime in the near future to keep the primary parts of this roster together. But they’re not rushing to get to that date.
The wiser move would be to keep utilizing draft picks to acquire young players on cost-controlled contracts. This should provide the flexibility needed to build out the rest of the roster without feeling pressure to dump valuable veterans like Valanciunas or Nance.
This doesn’t mean they should ignore calls from anyone inquiring about Milwaukee’s 2027 first-rounder. But it will be crucial for this franchise to continue building internally with the assets they have. The roster they’ve assembled is a great example of how much freedom having young, impactful players on rookie contracts can give a team as they plot out the future.
If anything, a team like Memphis has laid out a great blueprint for what the Pelicans can do to maintain their viability as a serious contender without delving deep into the luxury tax waters.
Of the 15 players on the Grizzlies’ current roster, 12 were either acquired through the draft by Memphis or signed out of college as undrafted free agents. They’ve done an incredible job of developing talent within their organization, and it’s made it easier to foresee a future with Ja Morant, Jaren Jackson and Desmond Bane all sticking around long-term on massive contracts. That’s not easy to pull off in a market like Memphis.
New Orleans will have to deal with the same challenges.
But there’s another factor here that the Pelicans can apply to themselves.
The Grizzlies have also felt a similar pressure the past few seasons to make a big move and give themselves a better shot at a title run. They would be more justified to push their chips now with the squad they’ve built and their experience from the last two postseasons.
Memphis has resisted for the most part, and most people expect them to do it again this year. Their primary reason is simple: they’ve built a team full of guys who enjoy playing together and don’t want to mess up something special.
It’s not the end of the world if a smaller-market team sits back and enjoys the fruits of what they’ve built. There are benefits that can come from a team saying, “We’re gonna roll with the guys who brought us here.” Putting that amount of trust in a group will often result in them feeling more invested in the big-picture progression of the franchise.
This isn’t the approach the Pels should have for the rest of the time. Of course, the pressure to put Zion in position for a championship run will grow each season he remains in New Orleans.
But with this team, they’ve been able to develop something special in the locker room. The bond that’s grown between them individually and the city of New Orleans are unlike anything the franchise has experienced in more than a decade.
If they can recreate that magic with a few more healthy bodies in the lineup, there’s no need to sell off future assets to improve one or two spots in the backend of the rotation.
They’ve earned an opportunity to show what they have as a whole may be greater than the individual parts. That’s the path to a true cultural shift that lasts for years — not just talent accumulation.
Considering this team’s financial outlook and what they’ve shown when Zion is fully healthy, it makes sense to take it slow and not rush anything. We’ve seen in other places how much that patience can pay off in meaningful ways.
(Top Photo of Zion Williamson and Pelicans VP of Basketball Operations David Griffin: Sean Gardner/Getty Images)
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