The New Orleans Pelicans front office continues to kick their fans while they are already down, as Chris Haynes provides a disappointing update surrounding the team's trade deadline plans. Haynes reported that the Pelicans have no intent on trading Zion Williamson, Herb Jones, Trey Murphy III, Jeremiah Fears, and Derik Queen.
Sources: New Orleans Pelicans are disappointing the market in informing teams that Zion Williamson, Trey Murphy, Herb Jones, Derik Queen and Jeremiah Fears will remain with the organization past Feb. 5 trade deadline.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) January 9, 2026
When Joe Dumars took over the Pelicans, he promised change. He vowed to make the team great, and one the fans would rally behind. This decision is doing none of those things. In no reality should a team with an 8-31 record have five untouchables entering the trade deadline. That's just straight-up poor asset management. This is the same thing that the previous regime did, and is why the franchise fired David Griffin and hired Dumars in the first place.
Obviously, it makes sense long-term that Fears and Queen are both untouchable, as the team just invested two lottery picks in both of them. And as of late, I've been very vocal that I think trading Trey Murphy III would be a massive mistake, as he complements both players well as a floor spacer and shows All-Star scoring potential this season. So it makes sense to me that the front office isn't willing to part ways with any of this trio.
I can even see the thought process behind keeping Herb Jones, as he's a top-tier defender when at full health, loves the city, and was just extended by the front office. So even though I do think that if some team overpays for him, you take it, he isn't the biggest problem with this report.
Zion Williamson being untouchable is the problem
What more does this organization need to see from Zion Williamson to finally say enough is enough and cut ties with him? It's been seven seasons of the Williamson experiment, and it's resulted in two winning seasons and one playoff appearance, where he was hurt by the time the playoffs came around.
Sure, he's putting up solid numbers at 22.4 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 3.4 assists in just over 28 minutes per game, but it's not leading to wins. The Pelicans have a 5-18 record when he plays this season, which shows that he isn't the difference-maker he once was.
He also just isn't good defensively. The second, it looks like his opponent might be him on the perimeter—he lets them go, leading to free layups and dunks. We just saw Trae Young get traded because the Hawks' ceiling was so much lower with him as their best player, because he can't guard. Instead of that serving as a wake-up call about Williamson for the Pelicans, it appears to have done the opposite.
The only positive takeaway I have from this is that maybe, just maybe, this report coming out was Joe Dumars' way of driving up the value of his best players. But at the same time, when looking at this front office's track record in the short time they've been in charge, I seriously doubt it. At the end of the day, the fans deserve better, and that's the bottom line.