Most of the New Orleans Pelicans’ offseason trade chatter has centered on Trey Murphy, but Jordan Hawkins may actually be the more realistic name to move in the next couple of weeks.
Hawkins is heading into the final season of the $7 million option the Pelicans picked up before last year, a decision the front office now regrets. The early returns in his career hinted at real shooting upside, but that has not carried over in New Orleans.
The 24-year-old averaged 5.1 points, 1.7 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game while shooting 36.6/34.8/85.2 and playing just 13.6 minutes a night. That marked a sharp drop from the seasons before.
The Pelicans’ coaching staff was stuck trying to balance development and production. They wanted to keep giving Hawkins minutes and looks in hopes of snapping him out of the slump, but the on-court results got too rough to keep defending, and he eventually slipped out of the rotation.
Even so, there is still a team-building case for Hawkins. He has a clean jump shot, and another team could believe it can unlock him.
As a rookie, he had two 30-plus point games. For the right club, that makes him a low-risk swing with the chance for a real payoff if he gets back to his lottery-pick level.
New Orleans has had a few conversations about Hawkins, and the only team publicly tied to him so far is the Memphis Grizzlies. On paper, that makes plenty of sense.
Memphis is in full rebuild mode and can absorb Hawkins for one season without much concern. He would also land in a situation where he should have a better shot at earning minutes than he does with the Pelicans right now.
At one point, there was an assumption that New Orleans might target Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in a Hawkins deal. KCP had picked up a $21.6 million option, which was steep for what he would provide, but he was at least a player the Pelicans could use. He later accepted a buyout and is now with the Philadelphia 76ers.
That leaves Memphis with limited obvious salary-filler options that would make sense for New Orleans. D'Angelo Russell took a $6 million player option, which would work financially, but he is just another ball-handler who would get buried in the mix. Jerami Grant is making too much to be considered.
So if the Pelicans and Grizzlies do end up striking a deal for Hawkins, the most likely return at this point would be two second round picks.
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The path to a spot is not simple. Koloko is no longer eligible for a two-way contract because of his NBA service time, so this is essentially a camp invitation with real stakes attached, and he will have to beat out other non-guaranteed options while New Orleans already has most of its standard roster set. For a player whose career has already taken a winding route, this is another chance to prove there is still a place for him when the final decisions get made. [Read more 🡒]
Pelicans Linked To A Guard Swing Fans Will Instantly Debate
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The appeal is obvious enough that fans can picture the basketball fit right away, but the path to getting him would not be simple. Any serious pursuit would likely require New Orleans to piece together salaries from other moves or work through a sign-and-trade setup, and the debate is only sharper because a move like that would overlap with what Jordan Poole and Jordan Hawkins already bring to the guard rotation. [Read more 🡒]
Pelicans Offseason Just Took An Even More Frustrating Turn
The Pelicans offseason has settled into an uncomfortable kind of silence, with no roster moves to show for a team that finished well below .500 and was supposed to spend the summer pushing toward clarity. Instead, New Orleans is still sitting on the same core, with Zion Williamson and Trey Murphy III remaining the most prominent names on the roster while the front office gives little indication of how it plans to improve the group around them.
Murphys name has lingered in trade chatter, but the bigger issue is the broader sense that the Pelicans are drifting without a firm direction. With no obvious path to a meaningful upgrade and no clear sign of a reset either, the organization is left in an awkward middle ground, one where the roster looks incomplete and the strategy looks even less settled. [Read more 🡒]