Analyzing Moves New Orleans Pelicans Regret From Time With Past Stars
The New Orleans Pelicans will soon face restricted free agency decisions concerning their newly acquired talent.
The New Orleans Pelicans trade for Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, and Josh Hart in exchange for Anthony Davis. Ingram will be a restricted free agent next summer, with Ball eligible to shop his market after two seasons in the Big Easy. Eric Gordon’s contract standoff provides a template o what not to do with Ingram and Ball.
Gordon was obviously not ecstatic being in New Orleans. The New Orleans Pelicans could not afford to let him leave. He was the centerpiece talent received in the Chris Paul trade. So when Gordon signed a near max level offer sheet with Phoenix, New Orleans matched it.
At several points in the timeline, Dell Demps missed an opportunity to sell high on Gordon’s rade value. The same could be said of Ryan Anderson. Both Anderson and Gordon had value throughout their Pelicans tenure, but neither were ever sold on for future assets that could help keep Davis.
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Gordon and New Orleans were playing this battle out in public just months after Anthony Davis was drafted. Instead of having a clear cap sheet going into the Davis era, Demps paid Gordon one of the highest contracts in the NBA at the time. Gordon was 23 and had played only nine games for the team. He had done the opposite of buying into the team’s future.
David Griffin will have a bigger sample size before deciding how to move forward with Ingram, Ball, and Hart. Still, he must not be scared of losing a lost asset. Instead, he should look forward to moving on from them before the trade deadline, so the team can see some return on the investment.
Anthony Davis never got a chance to grow with a team. David Griffin has plenty of future draft picks to support Zion Williamson. Instead of trading stars for surplus packages, Griffin can package his surplus for a star and still maintain salary cap flexibility.
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There are plenty of approaches to building a championship contender. However, all of them require team chemistry and faith in the locker room. Building that culture is the most important priority for any NBA front office. Dell Demps never quite got the recipe right. David Griffin is cooking up a different flavor gumbo for the New Orleans Pelicans going forward.