New Orleans Pelicans: How the Chris Paul trade impacts the Pels
The Phoenix Suns’ trade for Chris Paul will impact the New Orleans Pelicans
The NBA trade season started this morning and already there has been a blockbuster trade that will impact the New Orleans Pelicans.
No, the Pels did not trade Jrue Holiday yet, but the Phoenix Suns trading for Chris Paul will have an impact on the Pels even though they weren’t involved.
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Adrian Wojnarowski announced the trade on Twitter, and the Suns will reportedly get Chris Paul and Abdel Nader in exchange for Kelly Oubre, Ricky Rubio, Ty Jerome, Jalen Lecque and a 2022 first-round pick.
This is a deal that seemingly helps both teams, as the Suns get a bonafide star to put with Devin Booker and DeAndre Ayton, while the Thunder get a couple of rotation players, a few projects and add to their ever-growing stockpile of draft assets.
The Thunder now have some big expiring contracts to move and could net even more picks to their infinite horde.
The Suns, who went undefeated in the bubble, added to their talent in an effort to win now and appease Booker, who was reportedly unhappy with the direction of the franchise.
This is big news for the Western Conference and the New Orleans Pelicans in particular.
How does the Chris Paul trade affect the New Orleans Pelicans?
The first thing this does is take Chris Paul off the market. There were some reports that the Pelicans had an interest in trading for the veteran point guard.
Nothing ever materialized and the trade seemed far-fetched to begin with but this is one of many options that is now off the table for the Pels.
Chris Paul could have been a fit but his contract is massive and the Thunder weren’t interested in taking back money.
Here are two more ways the Pelicans will be affected by this trade.