After trading away their franchise superstar Anthony Davis to the Los Angeles Lakers in the offseason, the New Orleans Pelicans were expected to embrace a rebuild in their 2019-20 NBA regular season campaign.
But instead of acquiring more young talent to surround their core of budding star Brandon Ingram and this year's top overall pick Zion Williamson, ESPN's Brian Windhorst believes the team is more focused on getting another veteran as opposed to offloading the ones they already have.
Speaking in the latest episode of The Hoop Collective Podcast, the veteran NBA writer bared that Pelicans General Manager David Griffin would love to have another experienced player to mentor the team's current young nucleus.
“Right now, my feel on the Pelicans is that they're actually looking to acquire another veteran as opposed to selling off a veteran,” he shared. “If anything, the Pelicans have seen what a big difference it made to get Derrick Favors back and they think if they could get another veteran into their rotation, that it may even help them more.
“I sense from the Pelicans they may be buyers.”
Derrick Favors, of course, has given the Pelicans a big boost in the 22 games he has played for them so far this season. The 6-foot-9 bruiser is tallying 9.0 points, 10.2 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 1.1 blocks while shooting 58.3-percent from the field and 25.0-percent from three. There is still plenty of veteran talent available in free agency, while the team could also explore their options on the trade market.
The Pelicans is still in 14th place in the Western Conference with a 13-25 slate but has been impressive as of late winning seven of their last 10 games. They will get another huge boost in the coming weeks, as Zion Williamson is expected to make his highly anticipated regular-season debut after recovering from a knee injury.
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