New Orleans Pelicans: One trade with every Southwest Division team
The New Orleans Pelicans could make some offseason trades in their own division.
The New Orleans Pelicans have a bunch of young talent, some veteran contracts and a ton of draft assets, so they are likely to be involved in a lot of offseason trade rumors.
The Pelicans also have several holes to fill and may not have the cap space to do it in free agency after signing Brandon Ingram to a maximum contract extension.
Related Story. One trade with every team in the Southeast Division. light
This leaves the NBA Draft and trades for the Pelicans to balance their roster and get some size and defense on the interior and wing.
We’ve looked at three different divisions for trades so far, but will now focus on the Southwest Division, where the Pelicans currently reside.
Teams are reluctant to trade within their division lest they have to watch the guy they traded dominate them or flourish with a rival.
But there are some moves to be made in the Southwest, as all of the teams are fringe contenders that could use another piece or two.
Houston and Dallas are playoff teams who are close to titles. In fact, both were dangerous contenders in the playoffs who probably could have beaten any team out of the Eastern Conference if they had made it out of the loaded West.
San Antonio missed the playoffs for the first time in 22 seasons but probably would have made it had the season been a week longer. Memphis was a surprise playoff contender this year and has a talented young core to build around.
The Southwest Division is going to be tough, but there might be some mutually beneficial trades that teams would consider.