When the New Orleans Pelicans drafted Zion Williamson in 2019, there was a ray of hope for the franchise after they traded away Anthony Davis. Williamson was dubbed as a generational talent that could lead the Pelicans to the promised land.
Eight years later and that has beared zero fruit. Williamson has battled injury after injury and New Orleans has turned into one of the most dysfunctional organizations in all of basketball.
The team is operating on what-ifs that will likely never turn into reality, and it leads to the one scenario that needs to happen.
The Pelicans need to blow it up ASAP to save their franchise
This is what needs to happen if New Orleans wants to have any hope of being relevant in the future. It’s time to let this era go. They have way too many “untouchables” for a team that lost 56 games last year.
Joe Dumars took the head executive job last offseason and promptly traded away this year’s first round pick to trade up and draft Derik Queen.
Queen has a lot of potential, but there was zero reason to overpay and trade up to get him. To make matters worse, the Pelicans could have had multiple first rounders this year if they decided to trade away veteran wings Trey Murphy and Herb Jones, who have garnered a lot of trade interest around the league. Both of them are much better off helping a championship contender anyway.
They could have gotten absolute hauls for both of them and could have had the chance to draft multiple blue chip prospects in a stacked draft class. Now, that ship has sailed.
It’s time to admit that this era of New Orleans basketball is over. Williamson isn’t going to magically get healthy and become a franchise player. It has been eight years of injuries and failed potential. Eight years is a lifetime in the NBA and when something isn’t working, it’s on the front office and ownership to look in the mirror and admit their faults.
The Pelicans are a disaster and need to admit that they are. Build around Jeremiah Fears and Derik Queen and usher in a rebuild. They are not ready to win now. They are not competing in the West. It is time to get rid of this sense of delusion that they will all of a sudden be a good team.
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