In an era where modern NBA front offices treat the summer as a high-stakes laboratory for aggressive restructuring, the New Orleans Pelicans have chosen a posture of profound stillness. Coming off successive campaigns of 26-56 and 21-61, a franchise rooted in the basement of the Western Conference would outwardly appear to be a prime candidate for sweeping, radical change. Yet, as the calendar reaches August 2026, the Pelicans have fundamentally elected to run it back.
It is a strategy that has left league observers openly perplexed. As NBA insider John Hollinger recently wrote, The league’s most puzzling franchise continues to amaze onlookers,
noting that he would be hard-pressed to name a worse-performing team in recent history that chose to bring back the exact same roster from the previous year. For a fanbase yearning to experience consistent winning for the first time in franchise history, the message sent by the front office under President of Basketball Operations Joe Dumars and General Manager Troy Weaver is jarring: either a profound overvaluation of current internal pieces or a paralyzing lack of foresight.
The Anatomy of Stagnation: Roster Additions and Subtractions
The ledger of summer transactions in New Orleans reads like an exercise in minimalism. The organization declined the second-year option on Kevon Looney—whose lone season in New Orleans was an unmitigated disaster, appearing in just 21 games and averaging 2.8 points per contest—thereby saving roughly $8 million in cap space. But instead of reinvesting that flexibility into elite floor spacing or starting-caliber rim protection, the primary roster addition became the re-signing of 37-year-old center DeAndre Jordan to a guaranteed two-year deal.
While Jordan remains an important veteran presence in the locker room, his meaningful impact on the court has evaporated. That single signing severely restricted the franchise's remaining financial flexibility, leaving them with roughly $10 million in cap space and microscopic spending capabilities to address glaring holes. Beyond minor training camp deals and the addition of second-round pick Jaron Pierre Jr., the roster remains frozen in place.
| Player | Role & Status | 2025-26 Context |
|---|---|---|
| Zion Williamson | Max Forward ($197M deal) | Averaged 23.8 PPG, 6.4 RPG, 4.1 APG; health remains the ultimate variable. |
| Derik Queen | Sophomore Forward/Center | Averaged 11.7 PPG, 47.3% FG, 26.1% from three as a rookie. |
| Yves Missi | Third-Year Center | Started 67 games as a rookie, but saw reduced playing time and just 14 starts last year. |
| DeAndre Jordan | Veteran Center | Re-signed on a guaranteed two-year deal; locker-room leader with minimal on-court ceiling. |
The Defensive Gamble: The Williamson-Queen Pairing
With Looney gone and Jordan serving strictly in a mentor capacity, third-year center Yves Missi is thrust back into the spotlight. Missi flashed immense promise during his debut campaign, earning NBA All-Rookie Second Team honors by averaging 9.1 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks while starting 67 games. However, his production dipped significantly in his second year, with his starts cut to 14 and his playing time dropping below 20 minutes per contest.
More controversially, Joe Dumars told reporters this summer that he envisions both Zion Williamson and Derik Queen logging extensive minutes together in the frontcourt. Statistically, this setup triggers immediate alarm bells. Both players are undersized in the post and get easily exploited by traditional, heavy-set centers. When the duo shared the floor last season, the Pelicans surrendered one of the worst defensive ratings in the league. Without a dedicated, elite rim-protecting and rebounding anchor alongside them to compensate for their structural limitations, the interior defense is primed for persistent exposure.
The offensive end fares little better in terms of roster balance. The team’s woeful three-point shooting over the last two seasons has gone entirely unaddressed through free agency. Compounding the confusion, trade rumors continue to swirl around Trey Murphy III—the franchise's premier outside shooter on a stellar four-year, $112 million deal—risking unnecessary friction with one of their few genuine bright spots.
Winners and Losers of a Stalled Summer
Every stagnant period creates localized impacts across a depth chart. Evaluating the current state of the roster reveals distinct outcomes for individual players:
- Winner: Yves Missi. Stripped of veteran competition for major minutes, the young Cameroonian center enters training camp as the undisputed focal point of the team's interior defense.
- Loser: Zion Williamson & Derik Queen. Burdened with playing extensive minutes together without an elite defensive buffer, both players face an unfair interior load that threatens to wear them down.
- Loser: Head Coach Jamahl Mosley. Handed a disjointed roster devoid of paint protection and perimeter shooting upgrades right out of the gate, Mosley inherits an uphill battle to establish a hard-working culture.
- Loser: The Fanbase. Forced to endure back-to-back sub-30 win campaigns, fans are greeted with a passive strategy that signals a roster demonstrably worse than the previous year.
The Path Forward: Salvation Through the Trade Market?
With free agency yielding virtually no remaining options to secure a starting-caliber center, the front office's entire survival strategy rests on the trade market. New Orleans holds valuable assets—including the right to swap picks with or receive the more favorable choice between their own and the Milwaukee Bucks, alongside tradable contracts like Jordan Poole or guard Jordan Hawkins, who has drawn interest from teams like the Memphis Grizzlies.
Hiring Jamahl Mosley was billed as a fresh cultural start for the organization. Yet, delivering him an unbalanced, defensively vulnerable roster without addressing fundamental flaws sets the stage for another winter of meaningless basketball. Unless Dumars and Weaver pull off a creative, aggressive trade before opening night, the Pelicans risk squandering another season of Zion Williamson’s prime in Western Conference obscurity.
Sources
These sources formed the evidence pack for this article. Links open the original publisher; inclusion does not imply endorsement.
- David Desa original
- Terry Kimble Mon, Jul 6, 2026 · 4 min read original
- si.com original
- Greg Atoms Greg Atoms Published: July 8, 2026 original
