4. New Orleans Pelicans
The New Orleans Pelicans will be without starting point guard Jrue Holiday for the foreseeable future. Langston Galloway has two-way potential at point guard, but the Pelicans have postseason aspirations and little time to waste.
If the Pelicans somehow manage to trade for Ricky Rubio, one would be inclined to believe that Anthony Davis’ job would become significantly easier.
Rubio is a masterful facilitator, a quality rebounder, and one of the best defensive players at his position. His ability to distribute the ball would enable Davis to create less for himself and capitalize on opportunities to score off of feeds from his teammates.
Holiday has helped in that regard, but he’s missed at least 40 games in two of his three seasons in New Orleans.
Defensively, Rubio’s ability to contain point guards and force turnovers would fuel the Pelicans’ transition offense. Alvin Gentry likes to run, and Rubio is the ideal point guard for such a strategy to be executed.
This isn’t a necessary trade, but if the Pelicans move on from Tyreke Evans, then Rubio could be the ideal replacement as a big guard who can do a bit of everything.