Joe Dumars was hired to change the New Orleans Pelicans, and nobody could have argued with the need for it. A 21-win season had left the roster out of balance and the franchise searching for a new path after six years under David Griffin.
Dumars said he would be aggressive, and he has been. The issue is that aggression gets expensive fast when the other side knows you’re committed.
That’s the thread running through Tuesday’s Jordan Hawkins trade, and it stretches back more than a year. The Pelicans have repeatedly pushed to get what they want, only to pay a premium in the process.
It started during the 2025 NBA Draft, when New Orleans moved from No. 23 to No. 13 to land Derik Queen. Atlanta got the 23rd pick and an unprotected 2026 first-rounder that turned into the No. 8 pick.
Queen’s rookie season made the move easier to justify, because he flashed like a potential cornerstone. Still, believing in Queen and questioning the cost to get him can both be true at once.
The same dynamic showed up again in the trade that sent CJ McCollum and Kelly Olynyk to Washington. Saddiq Bey has already proven to be one of the better additions of the Dumars era, and Micah Peavy also arrived in the deal.
But the Pelicans also took on Jordan Poole, who had an extra season left on his contract. McCollum was in the final year of his deal, and Olynyk was as well, so New Orleans had a chance to clear meaningful money.
Instead, it chose the shorter-term basketball return, and once Poole dropped out of the rotation, that added salary mattered even more.
That trade wasn’t a disaster. Bey’s production gives it real value. But it did cost the Pelicans flexibility, and that has made later decisions harder to absorb.
The DeAndre Jordan contract is a good example. Bringing back the veteran center wasn’t the problem.
Handing a 38-year-old Jordan a fully guaranteed two-year deal worth nearly $8 million was. It wasn’t the kind of move that sinks a franchise by itself, but it becomes much more consequential when the margin for error is already thin.
The Hawkins situation fits the same mold. Before Dumars even saw Hawkins play a regular season game under his leadership, the Pelicans picked up the guard’s fourth-year rookie option, locking in more than $7 million for this season. Then, less than 11 months later, they moved him to Memphis along with Peavy, a future second-round pick, and a future second-round pick swap for AJ Johnson and Taj Gibson.
The real issue isn’t that Hawkins was moved. It’s what New Orleans had to attach to him in order to do it.
Peavy was only a second-round pick a year ago, but he showed promise as a rookie, and his defensive ability looked like a strong fit for Jamahl Mosley’s play style. On top of that, the Pelicans gave up more draft capital.
And the return may not amount to much at all. Johnson and the 41-year-old Gibson, who is expected to be waived, don’t appear likely to hold regular-season roster spots.
If that’s how it plays out, New Orleans essentially paid two young players and draft assets just to create room.
That’s the uncomfortable part: the same front office that guaranteed Hawkins’ money is now using assets to get out from under that decision.
None of these moves alone has to define the franchise. But taken together, they create a real pattern.
Dumars and Troy Weaver inherited a team that needed major restructuring, and there are clear reasons for optimism. Queen looks like a building block.
Jeremiah Fears has given the Pelicans another promising young player. Bey has already brought value.
Still, roster building is about more than finding talent. It’s about protecting assets, keeping flexibility, and knowing when the price is too steep.
Too often, the Pelicans seem locked onto the problem right in front of them and not the one waiting around the corner. They wanted Queen and paid up.
They wanted to reshape the roster quickly and gave away McCollum’s expiring contract. They wanted Jordan back and guaranteed another year.
They wanted Hawkins gone and surrendered Peavy plus draft compensation without getting a rotation player back.
That’s a costly way to build a team.
Aggression has its place. Sometimes you do have to pay more than the textbook says you should. But there has to be a line, and there has to be enough foresight not to spend future assets cleaning up the mess created by decisions made only months earlier.
The Pelicans do have some legitimate reasons to feel good about what’s on the roster. The bigger question is whether Dumars and Weaver can build around the talent they’ve found without constantly burning the flexibility and assets they’ll need to finish the job.
Right now, that’s the part that’s hard to trust.
In Other News...
Grizzlies Trade Just Created An Offseason Domino Fans Should Watch
The Pelicans latest roster move is another reminder of how much of the offseason is driven by accounting as much as basketball. After the recent trade with the Memphis Grizzlies, New Orleans officially waived Taj Gibson, who was included for salary-matching purposes rather than as part of the clubs long-term plans.
Gibson will receive a partial guarantee from the Pelicans, and if he goes unclaimed on waivers hell hit unrestricted free agency. For a team still sorting through the edges of its roster, its a small transaction with potentially bigger ripple effects depending on whether another club decides to take a look. [Read more 🡒]
Pelicans Are Betting On Bennedict Mathurin In One Crucial Area
The Pelicans brought Bennedict Mathurin in on a two-year, $16 million deal this summer, adding a 24-year-old former No. 6 pick who is coming off a season of career-best production. He averaged 17.6 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 54 games last year, and the appeal in New Orleans is obvious: a young scorer with enough size and confidence to fit into a rotation that needs more punch.
What makes Mathurin especially intriguing is the offensive lane the Pelicans are betting on him to fill. His efficiency and shooting will matter as much as the raw scoring, because his role is likely to be judged by how well he can complement the rest of the roster rather than simply how many shots he takes. For a team looking to sharpen its half-court options, that is a meaningful place to start, even if the exact shape of his impact is still to be determined. [Read more 🡒]