You can point to many things as reasons why the 2025-26 season has been off to a disastrous start for the New Orleans Pelicans. The ones I often find myself pointing to are the continued trend of injuries, lack of shot creation, a thin guard rotation, and a lack of defensive talent. All of these things, except the defensive talent part, are things Jordan Poole was brought in to help fix, but because of his injury, he hasn’t been able to.
Poole didn’t get hurt in a game—he just randomly appeared on the team injury report with a quad injury. Fans were confused and continue to be confused, as there have been minimal updates on him and his progress toward returning to the court. Poole has missed 18 games, which has become incredibly problematic for this Pelicans team.
The Pelicans traded for Poole with the idea that, by acquiring him coming off a career year in Washington, he could go in and help them be a competitive team. However, he got hurt early in the year, leaving the Pelicans thin at guard and taking a lot of potential offensive production out of their lineup.
Now, when he does return, the value he was expected to bring won’t carry the same impact because of where New Orleans currently sits in the standings.
The Poole trade is looking like more of a mistake than ever
When the Pelicans acquired Poole, I was a huge fan. I talked myself into the idea that he would buy in and be a winning player for this team, like he was in Golden State. Poole didn’t really get the chance to buy into a winning style with this team because he has spent most of his season watching from the sidelines, and now, when he does return, the team may not even look the same.
With rumors that the front office could blow things up by trading Trey Murphy III, Herb Jones, and even Zion Williamson, the timing of the Poole trade looks even worse. In hindsight, the Pelicans may have been better off holding onto CJ McCollum for one more year and letting his contract expire. Now they're stuck with another year of Poole’s $30-plus million salary in a situation where the team could be entering a rebuild.
I still think the idea behind acquiring Poole was a good one, as he was younger than McCollum and gave the team a steady point guard option while they waited for Dejounte Murray to return. However, with losses piling up and Poole not playing since November 4th, this trade is aging worse each day. And things are only going to get worse if the front office decides to tear things down and enter a rebuild.