In their young NBA history, the New Orleans Pelicans have already made a ton of changes to put a competitive team on the floor. It's been tough so far for the franchise as they seem to always just almost make it to the playoffs. But the organization knows that an almost-playoffs team isn't enough that's why they've been proactive in making moves and trades to help their cause. Let's take a look at the three best trades so far in New Orleans Pelicans history.
3. Jrue Holiday (2013)
At this time, the franchise was still adjusting to the post-Chris Paul era as their former franchise player was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers for some loose change (sorry Mr. Eric Gordon). Though they were able to snag a young prospect in Anthony Davis as their first overall pick in 2012 a few months after the Paul trade, Davis was still pretty raw at that time and the Pelicans were looking for a potential leader. This came draft night when the franchise went into a deal with the Philadelphia 76ers to trade their sixth pick in Kentucky product Nerlens Noel to All-Star point guard Jrue Holiday.
It was a questionable move from Philadelphia's end given that Holiday had a breakout year on 2012 and their track record in building young talents haven't been quite good. But from the Pelicans' end, it was one of the smartest moves their young franchise has done. Obviously, hindsight is 20-20 and there wouldn't be a way to predict that Noel would be some sort of bust in his NBA career so far but the Pelicans betting big on Holiday has paid dividends for the franchise so far. In seven years with the franchise, Holiday has averaged 17.6 points per game and has paired his scoring with 6.8 assists and 4.2 rebounds while his trade counterpart Noel has been on three different teams and has been an okay-backup center, at best.
2. DeMarcus Cousins (2017)
After finally getting a taste of post-season basketball in 2015, the Pelicans knew that they had something there and that they just needed a few more tweaks in their line-up to be a legitimate contender in the West. Anthony Davis was slowly proving to be one of the more exciting young stars in the league and his tandem with Jrue Holiday was shaping up to be a solid tandem for the Pelicans. In a move to potentially further boost the team's chances, the front office made an offer to grab big man DeMarcus Cousins from the Sacramento Kings early in 2017. Cousins, who was clearly unhappy with the Kings, was sent to New Orelans alongside Omir Casspi and in exchange, New Orleans would ship out swingmen Buddy Hield, Tyreke Evans and Langston Galloway plus future draft picks. And just like that, the Pelicans would become a scary, dark horse in the league.
Cousins joined his fellow Kentucky Wildcat Davis and formed one of the toughest frontcourts in the league at the moment. The addition of DeMarcus made a huge impact and helped New Orleans make it to the playoffs for the second time in franchise history (under the Pelicans tag). The Cousins-Davis tandem made an impressive debut in the playoffs as they swept the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round. Unfortunately, they would hit a wall and were eliminated by eventual champions Golden State Warriors in the second round. Cousins' second season would again start strong but a torn achilles injury in January of 2018 against the Houston Rockets would ultimately shut his season down as well as his time with the franchise as that would be the last time he would suit up for the Pelicans.
1. Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball and Josh Hart (2019)
In the 2019 off-season, the New Orleans franchise hired David Griffin as their executive vice president of basketball operations. This was a challenging time for the organization as their perennial All-Star Anthony Davis was vocally asking to be shipped out of the team after eight sub-par seasons in NOLA. Luckily for the Pelicans, Griffin was on top of that debacle and finally pulled the gun and decided to trade Davis in a blockbuster trade involving the Los Angeles Lakers come summer. In exchange of their superstar, the Pelicans would get a young core in Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram and Josh Hart as well as a few future first-rounders. These new additions would turn out to be a great complement to their 2019 lottery pick in Zion Williamson who was drafted by New Orleans prior to the trade.
This new chapter in the Pelicans' history books didn't start quite as planned as a knee injury sidelined their first overall pick for a huge chunk of his rookie season. Good thing though the newly acquired Pelicans were able to hold the fort and made sure the team stayed competitive until Williamson returned. Ingram was arguably the brightest star of the new pick-ups as he had a monster first year in New Orleans. The 23-year old balled out and had a career year with 23.8 points per game, 6.1 rebounds, 4.2 assists and in 33.9 minutes of play. Given what the young Pelicans had to go through all throughout the 2019-2020 season and were just a few games away from making it to the playoffs says a lot of this team's potential moving forward.
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