New Orleans Pelicans: One trade with every team in the Pacific Division

New Orleans Pelicans: A trade with the Sacramento Kings

The Pelicans and Kings will likely be battling each other for playoff spots over the next few years, so neither team will be eager to make the other one better.

However, both have a roster surplus that could be balanced by a trade. The Kings have a lot of forwards and are likely to lose shooting guard Bogdan Bogdanovic, while the Pelicans have too many shooting guards and not enough forwards.

In this trade, the Kings deal from their surplus of forwards to get back a promising young guard prospect and an early second-round pick in the 2020 draft. This also gives them some protection against trading Buddy Hield, who has made it clear he wants to be on a new team.

If the Kings could pick up NAW and move Hield, they could likely fill out the rest of their roster with free agents and be a much deeper team.

The Pelicans would be dealing from a surplus to get back a talented young combo forward in Richaun Holmes who fills a lot of holes. Holmes can defend both power forwards and centers and gives the Pelicans the rim protection they need.

He would be a nice fit with Zion Williamson and wouldn’t carry any long-term financial obligations. The Pels would essentially be trading for one year of guaranteed Holmes, but giving up little to get it and setting themselves up with more future cap space.