The New Orleans Pelicans have some soul-searching to do this offseason. After firing former Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations David Griffin and replacing him with Joe Dumars, they still have quite a lot of work to do, but at least they identified the man they want leading this charge into their next era — perhaps a little too quickly for some people.
The Pelicans are a team with endless possibilities in front of them. Equipped with several high-profile veteran contracts, all of their future first-round draft picks, and some bonus capital, there's no shortage of options for Dumars to take to flesh out his vision. One choice he might not have, though, is regarding Zion Williamson's future in the Bayou.
Reportedly, Pelicans' ownership hired Dumars on the condition that he trade Big Z. It's also been stated that Dumars is determined to resuscitate the relationship between Zion and the New Orleans brass, though, so his future is still uncertain. In the spirit of altruism, I thought I'd help Dumars make this decision by laying out the pros and cons of the Pelicans trading Zion Williamson.
Why the Pelicans should trade Zion Williamson
This past season, New Orleans and their faithful were painfully reminded of how it feels to lose an entire season to injury. While it wasn't necessarily Zion's health that ripped them out of contention this year, it certainly didn't instill confidence in his status as a franchise cornerstone for the Pelicans.
Despite the team's disastrous season, Williamson had himself a hell of an individual campaign. He only played 30 total games, but he absolutely dominated in the time he was on the court, averaging career-highs of 31.0 points, 9.1 rebounds, 6.7 assists, 1.6 steals, and 1.1 blocks per 36 minutes played, while maintaining elite efficiency with 57 percent field-goal shooting.
He didn't just improve on the stat sheets, either. Zion reportedly cut a ton of weight last summer and maintained his renewed conditioning throughout the 2024-25 season, even with him missing time mid-year due to a hamstring strain. He at one point weighed in at his lowest since getting drafted out of Duke. His efforts paid off on the court, as he was visibly quicker, more energetic, and perhaps even more durable.
So, why would any of that mean that New Orleans should trade Zion? Because there's a strong chance that this will be the highest his trade stock ever reaches for the rest of his career. While Williamson was more available this season than his game log would suggest, he did still miss a significant chunk of time with a hamstring issue. There's always the possibility that his next serious injury could be career-changing.
Rather than absorb that risk, as they've continually done for the past six years, the Pelicans could shirk that responsibility onto another team this summer and take advantage of his peaking trade stock. New Orleans could pivot to a rebuild around a solid young core featuring Trey Murphy III, Herb Jones, Yves Missi, and their incoming 2025 lottery pick. This would give them a promising group of developing players on reasonable contracts that have complementary skillsets. It'd also allow them to trade several high-value pieces like Zion, Dejounte Murray, and CJ McCollum to add to their new foundation. Lastly, moving Zion would also mitigate any potential awkward positional overlap if they wind up with another power forward like Cooper Flagg in the draft.
Cutting ties with Zion Williamson surely won't be a popular decision. It's never great to admit that the last six years were a complete and utter failure. That said, the Pelicans could be avoiding the sunk-cost fallacy if they do move him this summer, and, as much as it would hurt, there are plenty of valid reasons for trading him.