The New Orleans Pelicans are in a peculiar place as a franchise. They're currently sitting at 18-49, firmly entrenched in the second-worst spot in the Western Conference standings and within arm's reach of the very bottom. Their record might suggest that they're a team in the midst of a painful rebuild, but this roster was built to compete this season.
While their performance this year is certainly disappointing, it will bless them with a rare opportunity: the chance to add a top-tier prospect with a high lottery pick to an already established roster with several upper echelon players such as Zion Williamson, Trey Murphy III, CJ McCollum, and Dejounte Murray.
Things could certainly change by next season's tip-off, but, as of right now, the Pelicans are slated to have an incredibly stacked lineup next year. Considering that they'll already be adding a high-profile rookie to this team in the summer, New Orleans may not be too worried about free agency. That would be a mistake though, one that they've been prone to making in the past.
The New Orleans Pelicans need to use their midlevel exception this summer
NBA roster building is a complicated process. There are so many different ways to add talent and manipulate a team's personnel, and the most successful organizations are those that take full advantage of all of the avenues that are available to them — even those that might be more loopholes than intended courses.
For example, the Golden State Warriors were able to add Kevin Durant to their dynasty back then by capitalizing on an unprecedented spike in the salary cap. They've since used his salary to retain a competitive roster despite having limited financial flexibility for about a decade straight. A more recent example is the creative finagling that the New York Knicks did last offseason in order to complete their trade for Karl-Anthony Towns.
While there are teams digging through the CBA to find any and every loophole they can to get a leg up on the rest of the league, the New Orleans Pelicans aren't even using all of their obvious resources to maximize their roster. As a franchise that has never paid the luxury tax, the Pels are a notoriously frugal organization in the NBA.
Part of how they've deftly avoided the luxury tax is by being extremely selective in free agency. In fact, New Orleans's last notable free agent addition was Devonte' Graham back in 2021, and even that was a sign-and-trade so they weren't technically adding his full salary to their books outright.
From what I can gather, the last time the Pelicans signed a meaningful acquisition outright in free agency was J.J. Redick in 2019. Before that, it was Julius Randle, the last recipient of a New Orleans midlevel exception. Going into the summer, they should have an MLE worth around $14 million available to them.
This offseason, the Pelicans need to buck the trend and use this exception to round out their roster. The parity in the league is at an all-time high. With the right additions, New Orleans could go from the lottery to true contention within one summer, but they need to use all of their resources to try to add as much talent as possible.