Should the New Orleans Pelicans try to make a big trade or just be patient with what they have?
The New Orleans Pelicans are an enigma. They look like contenders for a quarter and then play like a lottery team in others.
This is to be expected with such a young team. When your two best players are under 25, as is the case with Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram, your team is probably going to lack consistency.
The Pelicans definitely have young talent. In addition to Zion and BI, Lonzo Ball has played like an All-Star for stretches and it looks like they have a keeper in Nickeil Alexander-Walker.
The Pelicans also have a million draft picks, so there is no shortage of young talent coming in the future. This combination of young talent and draft assets are what every team in the NBA wants, the question is what the Pelicans should do with it.
They could just continue to build through the draft, trying to get top-end talent to put around Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram.
If they can continue to find talent (as it appears they have with Kira Lewis Jr.) the Pels can build their team organically, then wait for their chance to add an impact free agent. This is basically how the Golden State Warriors built their championship roster.
People forget that the big free-agent addition of Kevin Durant wouldn’t have mattered if the Warriors hadn’t already drafted Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.
Young players and assets can also be used to make trades for stars and there are a number of examples where that either worked our or failed spectacularly.
The Clippers did it most recently to acquire Paul George from the Thunder.
So which path should the Pels follow? There is an argument for both.