Lonzo Ball’s trade to the New Orleans Pelicans opens up numerous possibilities to his future. After years of being seen as a placeholder for a future star, Ball joins a franchise seemingly committed to building around a talented young core and providing them with the support they need.
The trade that sent Ball, Brandon Ingram and Josh Hart to the Pelicans also loaded the franchise up with more assets than anyone else in the league. The team has already begun fielding offers for the fourth pick and are in search of an All-Star to be the new face of the franchise.
While that player and trade may be hard to find, there are some interesting deals that the Pelicans could pull off with that pick and some of its newfound assets. While the young core now has plenty of promise and is deep with Zion Williamson soon to be added, the one hole so far is as a forward.
Could the team find an All-Star big man? Would they rather try to find another young big man to add to the core? Here’s a look at five trades that answer one or both of those questions.
1. Pelicans trade No. 4 pick to Hawks for No. 8 and No. 10
One of the more rumored deals, this move would further add to the asset pool of the Pelicans. There are a couple ways the team could trade back with Phoenix potentially offering the sixth pick with one of their young pieces. To be frank, though, none of the young pieces on Phoenix sans DeAndre Ayton move the needle enough to trade back.
Instead, the Pelicans should instead look to Atlanta where the Hawks stockpiled some of their own assets by trading back last season themselves, netting Dallas’ first-round pick in the process. While Jarrett Culver is an intriguing prospect with a ton of upside, he likely doesn’t move the need much for the Pelicans with a host of guards and wings on the roster already.
By trading back, the Pelicans find themselves in the range where multiple more big men will likely be available. Brandon Clarke, Jaxson Hayes, Goga Bitadze, Bruno Fernando and even Bol Bol could all be in that range and all would be great fits for New Orleans. To be honest, a lineup of Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart, Brandon Ingram, Zion Williamson and Brandon Clarke would have many fanning themselves next season.
It would also put them in the range if a player starts slipping like a DeAndre Hunter, who could provide more wing depth and needed spacing. Either way, it’s a move that has plenty of merit and one that very well may be executed on draft night.
2. Pelicans trade No. 4 pick, Lonzo Ball, Solomon Hill to Wizards for Bradley Beal
If the Pelicans are really focused on acquiring a superstar, Washington should be the first call with Bradley Beal the topic. The problem currently is that no one is in place to answer that phone call and, thus, likely wouldn’t engage in trade talks of any value. But it’s the Wizards. They’ve done worse.
While some have suggested moving Ingram, who will need to be paid next summer, in the deal for Beal. Potentially, he could have more value but dealing him in this specific deal would create a logjam in the backcourt with Beal, Ball, Jrue Holiday, Josh Hart and potentially E’Twaun Moore needing minutes.
As much fun as a Ball-Holiday backcourt would be – and it would be tremendous amounts of fun – the trade that makes more sense is sending Ball out along with Solomon Hill plus the fourth pick for Beal. The Wizards may ask for another first which could potentially be added considering the Pelicans own the next 47 (roughly) of the Lakers’ picks.
An underrated trade asset for the Pelicans is Hill. As an expiring contract making $12.7 million, he, along with Moore, is going to be a perfect trade piece in a trade like this. The Wizards would quickly get out of much of Beal’s money and begin a rebuild with a new point guard.
With Beal under contract, according to our cap guru Yossi Gozlan, the Pelicans would be looking at upwards of nearly $30 million in cap space next summer to add more pieces and quickly move into playoff contention again.
3. Pelicans trade No. 4 pick, Solomon Hill, Christian Wood and Frank Jackson to Magic for Aaron Gordon
While not a move that adds an All-Star level player, trading for Aaron Gordon would make the Pelicans the League Pass team of the year, hands down.
Under Alvin Gentry and with Ball, Williamson and Gordon, the Pelicans would fly up and down the court and dunk everything. Defensively, plugging Gordon in at the five would mean you’re sacrificing rim protection for the ability to switch one through five. Gordon ranked as a 56th percentile defender overall last year but was a 90th percentile defender in single coverage isolation situations.
Gordon is an intriguing player who has been stuck in Orlando. Prior to their surprise playoff push last year, the Magic were more known for their ineptitude than their success. Gordon is one of the few players they have hit on through the draft in recent years and while they locked him up with an $80 million contract over four years, they drafted Jonathan Isaac and Mo Bamba and have a massive overlap.
Intriguingly, Gordon’s contract actually descends in value over the life of it. He’s set to make $19.8 million in 2019-20, $18.1 million in 2020-21 and $16.4 in 2021-22 making him a very intriguing piece late in his contract when the Pelicans will have to make decisions on extensions for Ball, Hart and, eventually, Williamson.
Getting rid of the most expensive of those prospects for the fourth pick allows them to clear cap space after next season and also likely land Darius Garland as the point guard of the future.
4. Pelicans trade No. 4 pick, Solomon Hill, Christian Wood to Bulls for Zach LaVine
From a fit perspective, trading for Zach LaVine doesn’t make a lot of sense given the current roster construction. As stated in the section on Beal, the Pelicans already have a hoard of guards.
However, Moore is an expiring contract and Holiday may not be long for New Orleans if he opts not to stay around for another rebuild. In that case, the Pelicans could be looking at a potential need for another guard.
Even if Holiday stays, pushing LaVine to a bench role as a sixth man wouldn’t be the worst idea. There’s certainly no questions about LaVine’s offense. Last season, he graded out as a 61st percentile offensive player and ranked in the 65th percentile or higher in the pick and roll, in transition, in isolation, in handoffs and off cuts. The questions come on the defensive end where he was a 28th percentile player.
Moving him to a sixth man role could be a natural move where LaVine could torch bench units and still see minutes closing the game while improving on the defensive end. His contract isn’t great at $19.5 million a year but it expires in 2021-22 when the team has to pay Ball and Hart and the Pelicans would still have $30 million in cap space next summer still.
5. Pelicans trade No. 4 pick, Solomon Hill, E’Twaun Moore, Kenrich Williams, Dairis Bertans to Cleveland for Kevin Love and the No. 26 pick
This trade involves lots of pieces to make the money work – as do all of these trades with lower-end guys – but it would net the team a former All-Star that they desire. It’s a wonder as to why Kevin Love is still in Cleveland with the Cavaliers rebuilding. As each year ticks away, his price continues to go down.
The No. 4 pick itself might be a bit of an oversell which is why the Cavaliers would toss in the 26th pick. But Love could spot in the starting lineup for New Orleans and still allow the Pelicans to play fast.
Offensively, he’d provided some desperately needed spacing for Ball, Ingram and Williamson. Last season in a shortened season, he was an 84th percentile spot-up shooter albeit on only 74 attempts. In 2017-18, he graded out as a 96th (!) percentile spot-up shooter.
Defensively, there’d certainly be more questions but with few teams have true back-to-the-basket centers in the modern NBA, on many nights the Pelicans could get away with playing Williamson and Love in the frontcourt. Love was a 60th percentile defender against post-ups in 2017-18 and a 69th (nice) percentile defender on switches on the pick and roll.
Love’s contract isn’t pretty and will run until 2022-23. The good news is that it expires the season before Williamson becomes a restricted free agent, though it’ll be in his year 34 season. It’s certainly more of a risk than the other deals but few people are more familiar in the league with Love than general manager David Griffin. If he sees it as a good deal, he’s certainly earned the benefit of the doubt.
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