The New Orleans Pelicans and Memphis Grizzlies pulled off a late-offseason swap that sends Jordan Hawkins to Memphis, and it comes with four names moving in total.
ESPN’s Shams Charania first reported the deal, which sends Hawkins, Micah Peavy, a second-round pick and a pick swap to the Pelicans. On the surface, the move appears tied to Hawkins’ contract situation, since his rookie deal carries a $7 million cap hit in 2026-27 and he becomes a restricted free agent after that unless a new agreement is reached, according to Spotrac. For New Orleans, that points to cap flexibility and a clear sign the team was probably not planning to extend the 24-year-old.
Memphis gets the better grade here.
The Grizzlies land a young shooter with real upside and no massive financial burden attached. Hawkins’ minutes dipped in 2025-26 as the guard rotation tightened, but he still came off a strong second NBA season, averaging 10.8 points and 2.8 rebounds per game. He hasn’t matched the kind of three-point production he showed in his final season at Connecticut, when he hit 38.8% on 7.6 attempts per game, but the shot-making ability is still part of the appeal.
The Grizzlies also add Peavy, which only sweetens the return. The 2025 second-round pick played 15.0 minutes per game for the Pelicans last season and filled a versatile role. In his lone season with the Hoyas, the former Georgetown transfer averaged 17.2 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.6 assists while shooting 48.1% from the field and 40.0% from three-point range.
New Orleans, meanwhile, gets a more crowded-looking backcourt and enough reason to move on from Hawkins.
The Pelicans added Bennedict Mathurin this offseason, and he joins a group that already includes Jeremiah Fears and Jordan Poole behind starters Dejounte Murray and Trey Murphy III. With Mathurin expected to take a chunk of the second-unit shooting guard minutes and Fears positioned as the clear backup point guard, Hawkins was heading into another difficult fight for playing time.
The return also includes Johnson and Gibson, both of whom are on expiring contracts in 2026-27. Johnson has a team option for 2027-28, and both players are owed under $3.9 million this season.
The draft capital matters here, though, because the second-round pick and pick swap could carry real value depending on where those selections land. That keeps New Orleans from getting a higher mark, even if the logic behind the move is easy to follow.
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The Pelicans are making another quiet move that says plenty about where the front office is headed. New Orleans has agreed to send Jordan Hawkins, Micah Peavy, a future second-round pick and a second-round swap to Memphis in exchange for AJ Johnson and Taj Gibson, a deal built around trimming payroll rather than reshaping the rotation. It is the kind of transaction that often looks minor on the surface but can open the door to much bigger business when a team is working around the edges of the salary sheet.
In this case, the goal is clear: stay under the luxury tax line while finishing a contract with Bennedict Mathurin. The Grizzlies can still use trade exceptions and salary guarantees to make the numbers work, and there is no immediate clarity on whether Hawkins or Peavy will actually stick with Memphis once the dust settles. For New Orleans, though, the larger implication is obvious - this is the sort of move teams make when every dollar matters and one more roster decision is still hanging out there. [Read more 🡒]
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Bennedict Mathurin gives New Orleans another pressure point to watch, and as the teams biggest offseason addition, he is expected to supply scoring the Pelicans can lean on when the offense bogs down. The other piece is the new coaching staff, which arrives with a defensive reputation and the kind of turnaround experience that helped reshape Orlando. If the Pelicans are going to move forward, they will need all three of those strands to pull in the same direction. [Read more 🡒]