The New Orleans Pelicans have some tough personnel decisions to make.
Heading into one of the most interesting offseasons in NBA history, the New Orleans Pelicans already seem as if they are in a good position to make a playoff push next season.
Yes, the Western Conference appears to have zero teams that will be outright bad, but New Orleans has a good young core under contract and will be right among those teams if they play their cards right.
The Pelicans are entering the offseason with guards Jrue Holiday, J.J. Redick and Lonzo Ball, wings Josh Hart and Nickeil Alexander-Walker and bigs Zion Williamson, Nicolo Melli and Jaxson Hayes.
New Orleans also has Darius Miller under contract for a partially guaranteed $7 million, but it is unlikely that he is retained and the team will probably cut him before the full guarantee kicks in. It would be nice to see Miller return at some point, but there is no way the team will keep him for the full $7 million.
As for the players on the roster, Redick, Ball, Hart, Alexander-Walker, Williamson and Hayes are no brainers to keep around. Each are either on rookie contracts or team-friendly deals that are important to building a contender.
But the New Orleans Pelicans do have some players who might net assets in a trade, guys who are not necessarily part of the future of this franchise.
In addition, they have seven free agents to decide on, so let’s take a look at which players on the roster they should trade and which free agents they should try to retain.