It's been a busy week of trades around the NBA.
Shortly after Kevin Durant joined the Houston Rockets and while the Boston Celtics parted ways with two key pieces to their 2024 championship in Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis, the New Orleans Pelicans significantly changed up their backcourt on Tuesday.
One day before the first round of the 2025 NBA draft, the Pelicans traded CJ McCollum, Kelly Olynyk and a second-round pick to the Washington Wizards in exchange for Jordan Poole, Saddiq Bey and the No. 40 pick in the 2025 draft.
Who won the trade? And who lost? Let's dive in:
Washington Wizards
Trade grade: A-
Despite missing out on the Cooper Flagg sweepstakes, the Wizards' rebuild is right on schedule. And this trade will only help.
Four veterans acquired via trade over the last five months—McCollum, Olynyk, Khris Middleton and Marcus Smart—are all entering the 2025-26 campaign on expiring deals and could be intriguing trade chips to utilize down the road. And by parting ways with Jordan Poole—who is under contract for the next two years at $31.8 million and $34 million—Washington freed up even more cap space for next offseason, a number ESPN's Shams Charania projects to be nearly $100 million.
Washington has a long way to go, but freeing up that much cap space should only speed up the process. Now, if only they could score some lottery luck ...
New Orleans Pelicans
Trade grade: C
Poole, once crowned as the Golden State Warriors' heir apparent to Steph Curry, now joins his third team in four years. He had his best statistical year with Washington last season, averaging a career-high 20.5 points while shooting 37.8% from three-point range and 43.2% from the field.
New Orleans got younger and a bit cheaper in the deal—Poole and Bey are both 26 and set to make about $6 million less than McCollum and Olynyk combined next year. But did they get better? Poole is an effective scorer, and the Pelicans will need to lean on him as they wait for Dejounte Murray to return from a ruptured Achilles. He just isn't a clear upgrade from McCollum in the backcourt.
The Pelicans now have four players set to make more than $25 million next year in Zion Williamson, Murray, Poole and Trey Murphy III. That's an expensive roster with not much wiggle room for a core that—on paper, at least—doesn't look like it can compete in a crowded Western Conference.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as CJ McCollum-Jordan Poole Trade Grades: How Did Pelicans, Wizards Fare?.
