New Orleans Pelicans: 3 trades that would send Lonzo Ball to the Sixers

New Orleans Pelicans: JJ Redick could be added in a trade for Lonzo Ball

As with trades, there’s a lot of guesswork involved, but this makes sense from a roster and financial standpoint.

If the New Orleans Pelicans trade Lonzo Ball ahead of the trade deadline, they will want something valuable in return. In this case, they’re getting two pretty solid items in return. The first one is Matisse Thybulle and the second is a future first-round pick from Philadelphia. I’ve gone with the 2026 pick, but that could change.

Thybulle is a good young player who can help the Pelicans get better as soon as he touches down in New Orleans. He’s your quintessential 3-and-D wing in today’s NBA, although his shooting needs to keep improving.

Thybulle is only shooting 31 percent from three this season, but he shot around 36 percent last year and I don’t think this is a huge overall deterrent for the Pels. Josh Hart doesn’t shoot it much better from deep and I think Thybulle can defend guards better than Hart.

Meanwhile, the 2026 pick is one that I think would interest New Orleans simply because, as things stand right now, it should be around the time that this iteration of the Sixers team starts to wane. Joel Embiid will be 32-years-old by that time and maybe the Pelicans are willing to bank that his body doesn’t hold up.

The rest of the trade for New Orleans is made up of movable pieces. Some instant value could get extracted from Danny Green, but he probably wants to play for a contender if he leaves Philadelphia. Mike Scott can add something as a stretch big, but his contract is up this summer anyways. The same goes for Ferguson and Poirier who, at this stage, are probably fighting to stay in the NBA.

Meanwhile, the Sixers would get two really strong additions to their roster. We’ve gone over what Ball can bring to Philadelphia, but I think the Pelicans should look into including JJ Redick in this trade if the Sixers call.

Redick already knows what it’s like to play for the Sixers, playing some of the best basketball of his career at the Wells Fargo Center. The Duke sharpshooter is generally well regarded by the Sixers faithful and he has also been lauded on every occasion by Embiid.

This way, the Sixers can add even more shooting around their two franchise players and the Pels can move Redick onto a championship team while still getting something in return. It seems like a win-win for me.