Pelicans Trade Holiday to Denver in Hypothetical: Should They?
The New Orleans Pelicans ship Jrue Holiday to Denver in the latest hypothetical, but should they?
The New Orleans Pelicans have been involved in every trade rumor to hit the Internet lately and most of them involve shooting guard Jrue Holiday.
Holiday is clearly the Pelicans’ best trade chip, as he is a proven All-Star and All-Defensive player who is making a big enough salary to get something valuable in return.
Related Story. A juicy 3-team trade for Jrue Holiday. light
Many have also talked about his “timeline” with Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram, but that is less of a concern given that all the best teams have a combination of young and veteran talent.
The Pelicans are in no rush to trade anyone, but will have to at least consider some of the offers that are out there, especially if a bidding war breaks out for Jrue Holiday.
The Memphis Grizzlies were able to balance and bolster their roster by trading Mike Conley, and the Pelicans could probably get an even better haul for Jrue Holiday.
The Pels’ roster is too guard heavy, they need size and defense at both forward positions and if they don’t re-sign Derrick Favors, they’ll need a new center.
Those are significant holes that will be difficult to fill without a trade, as the Pelicans won’t have much money to spend in free agency after extending Ingram to a max deal.
Trading Jrue Holiday makes sense, but he is a very popular player in New Orleans, so the Pelicans need to make the right trade. If trading Holiday gets the Pelicans into the playoffs, fans will forgive them, but if they make the wrong trade, fans will walk away saying, “There go the Pelicans, screwing it up again.”
Is the Denver trade the right move? Let’s break it down.