We knew a move was coming, and now it’s official. After signing Bennedict Mathurin, the expectation around the league was that the New Orleans Pelicans had a coinciding move to make, and unfortunately, it’s not a great one. According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, the Pelicans are trading Jordan Hawkins, Micah Peavy, a future second-round pick, and a second-round pick swap to the Memphis Grizzlies for AJ Johnson and Taj Gibson.
According to Spotrac’s Keith Smith, the Pelicans will get to about $7.9M under the luxury tax and about $9.5M under the first apron after the trade with the Grizzlies. A cost-cutting move was coming, but they have to give up two draft picks and a bright young wing in Peavy because the front office's mismanaged Hawkins extension is poor asset management.
If you need a refresher, the front office picked up Hawkins' 2026-27 option before last season, limiting their future flexibility. If they had just waited it out and let him prove himself, Peavy and those picks would still be in New Orleans.
The Pelicans are paying for last year's mistake
Peavy wasn’t expected to be a heavily featured bench piece going into next season because of the Pelicans' overwhelming amount of depth. However, he fit new head coach Jamahl Mosley’s defensive culture, and you could argue he was this team's second-best defender behind only Herb Jones. He played 61 games in his rookie year, and while that number probably wouldn’t have risen in year two, he could’ve been valuable on nights where stops were hard to come by for this team.
When you look at the Pelicans roster after this deal, one thing that sticks out like a sore thumb is the lack of varying skill sets. This is a roster full of ball-dominant scorers and players who need touches to be effective. Peavy was the opposite. He brought a plug-and-play offensive style and an elite defensive toolbox this team could’ve used.
As far as AJ Johnson and Taj Gibson go, these are two decent pickups. One of them will likely be waived, and if not, it’ll probably be Trendon Watford, as New Orleans will be at 16 of 15 players on their roster heading into next season. My bet is Gibson will be waived, as the 41-year-old doesn’t add much on-court value, and the Pelicans already have a veteran leader in DeAndre Jordan, whom they extended.
Johnson is a fun flier for the front office, as the Milwaukee Bucks selected him with the 23rd pick in the 2024 NBA Draft. He’s still 21, has been on three teams in two years, and hasn’t found a stable home in the league. With the Pelicans needing a third-string point guard, he definitely could fill that role and provide some size at the position at 6-foot-5.
Overall, this move is difficult to justify. New Orleans gifted a team in their conference and division a high-upside defender and future draft picks because of a poor decision the front office made last season.
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