The Golden State Warriors could be the buyer the New Orleans Pelicans need if this upcoming season doesn’t go as planned.
For the most part, Pelicans fans are split on where the team will end up finishing the 2026-27 season. Some fans are buying into this current core reimagined under Jamahl Mosley, while others expect another colossal letdown that could see the plug finally pulled on this group by the trade deadline. I’ve gone back and forth on where I stand, but I keep finding myself leaning more toward a negative outcome for this team than a positive one.
You can only watch the same thing fail so many times before you lose faith, and with the Pelicans not addressing their needs this offseason, I find it hard to buy into this group. With no added floor spacing and no new faces aside from Bennedict Mathurin and AJ Johnson, I don’t really see this team that won 26 games last year and 21 the year before doing anything special.
With all that being said, there is one team out West that could be a heavy buyer if the Pelicans become sellers: the Warriors.
A match made in trade heaven
Even though the Warriors also had a very underwhelming offseason, any team with Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, and Steve Kerr can see a path to being decent. If most things go right, like Yaxel Lendeborg is a top rookie, Kristaps Porzingis is healthy, and Brandon Podziemski continues to be an elite role player, Golden State can be in the playoff hunt. With the pressure to keep this team competitive during the final great years of Steph Curry, they could be looking to move Jimmy Butler’s $56-plus million contract in exchange for win-now players.
In the Pelicans case, this is great news, as if the team disappoints in year one of the Mosley-era, it’s fair to assume a quick shift to a rebuild around Jeremiah Fears and Derik Queen is coming. I assume that New Orleans would then be on the hunt for cap flexibility and draft capital for their veteran players like Zion Williamson, Trey Murphy III, Saddiq Bey, Herb Jones, etc. The Warriors can offer a combination of those things.
With Butler on an expiring contract, draft capital, and players like Lendeborg and Podz, the Warriors would have more than enough to meet the Pelicans' needs if they enter a rebuild.
Whether it’s making a big splash for Golden State and getting someone like Zion or Murphy III, or a smaller move like Bey or Jones, the Pelicans have what they need. Golden State needs forwards and wings badly, and the Pelicans have ones of every archetype.
As of now, this is all hypothetical, but remember when we approach the 2027 trade deadline, and you first hear the reasoning for the Pelicans and Warriors to jump on the phone.
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