The New Orleans Pelicans already have a full roster and will have to make some minor moves before the season starts.
At full strength, this team is ready to compete now and may prefer to go into the season with the guys they already have on the roster.
But that doesn’t mean the Pelicans are finished making moves, as they could decide to pool their draft assets to try and add another star to a roster that already has big names in Zion Williamson, CJ McCollum, Brandon Ingram and Jonas Valanciunas.
They don’t have a glaring need, but the right addition could make them one of the odds-on favorites to win a title next season.
And there just might happen to be a star available this offseason.
New Orleans Pelicans: Is Dejounte Murray on the trade block?
According to several sources, including LJ Ellis from Spurs Talk, the Spurs have explored the possibility of trading Murray this offseason.
This really surprised me, as the Spurs made the play-in last season, have some nice young talent and Murray is their best player.
But after averaging nearly a triple double last season and making the All-Star team, his value may never be higher, so the Spurs may see this as their chance to load up on draft picks for the future, hedging their bets against a possible Gregg Popovich retirement, which would likely lead to a rebuild.
It’s hard for me to imagine Pop trading his best player If he still plans on being on the sidelines, so if he is coming back, my instinct is that Murray will be too. However, the Spurs may not want to have any part in Murray’s next contract, which is going to be a max deal that doubles his salary.
The Spurs are probably just testing the market here, but what would they want in a Murray trade and should the Pelicans be interested?