The New Orleans Pelicans’ start to the 2025-26 NBA season is nothing short of catastrophic. At 0-6, with the league’s worst point differential (-18.1), the team has looked lifeless on both ends of the floor, and the clock is ticking loudly on head coach Willie Green’s tenure. Green, now in his fifth season at the helm, was supposed to usher in the next step of this franchise’s evolution. Instead, he’s watching his team crumble under the weight of expectation, inconsistency, and the same old story: “talent without direction.”

The Pelicans’ issues are deeply structural; their offense is stagnant, their defense disjointed, and their leadership invisible. Zion Williamson continues to put up solid numbers (22.8 points, 6.8 rebounds, 4.6 assists), but they feel hollow in the absence of wins. Jordan Poole, acquired to provide perimeter scoring and shot creation, looks disengaged and inefficient. Dejounte Murray, brought in to stabilize the backcourt, has failed to impose his will as a floor general. Trey Murphy III, once their symbol of promise, is stuck trying to fill too many holes.

At this point, the Pelicans don’t just need a spark; they need a controlled explosion. Something that resets the tone of the locker room, shifts the identity of the team, and shows the league they refuse to let another season dissolve into mediocrity.

That’s why it might be time for the front office, led by Joe Dumars and Troy Weaver, to make the kind of “overreaction” trade that sends a message. The move that screams: we are not waiting for another rebuild, we’re saving what’s left of Zion’s prime.

And that trade is for Karl-Anthony Towns.

The Case for a KAT-sized Gamble

The Pelicans rank 27th in offensive rating (108.3), an unacceptable number for a team with this much individual scoring talent. The issue isn’t a lack of bucket-getters; it’s spacing. Zion thrives in the paint, Poole needs room to isolate, and Dejounte Murray is a midrange maestro, yet they’re operating in a congested half-court offense that suffocates rhythm.

Enter Towns. A career 40% shooter from deep, KAT stretches defenses in ways no current Pelican can. He would give Zion clear driving lanes, force opposing bigs out of the paint, and immediately open up drive-and-kick opportunities that the team sorely lacks. The idea of pairing Williamson’s physical dominance with Towns’ finesse would give New Orleans one of the most dynamic frontcourts in basketball.

Defensively, the fit isn’t perfect, but perfection isn’t the goal right now. The Pelicans are already 29th in defensive rating (126.6). Adding Towns won’t fix that overnight, but a functional, high-octane offense can buy time for a team that’s completely lost confidence. Sometimes, the first step to rebuilding your defense is simply rediscovering your identity as a team that can score at will.

The cost of desperation

The likely price for Towns won’t be cheap. The Knicks would probably ask for a package centered around Trey Murphy III, Derik Queen, and salary fillers like Kevon Looney or Karlo Matković.

Murphy is a great player and a cultural leader, but he’s also the type of talent that front offices move when urgency outweighs patience. The Pelicans’ current construction is teetering on collapse; keeping everyone and waiting for chemistry to form isn’t a plan anymore, it’s a gamble that’s already failed twice before.

Bringing in Towns would also reset expectations. It would shift the narrative from “Willie Green’s final days” to “the new twin towers of the Bayou.”

Even if Green doesn’t survive the month, the next coach would inherit a roster that actually makes sense: Zion operating downhill with KAT as a safety valve on the perimeter, Dejounte running high screens with a stretch five, and shooters like Jordan Hawkins and Jose Alvarado feeding off secondary actions.

However, the cost to bring KAT to New Orleans will be almost next to impossible as they are hard-capped at the first apron, but it will be interesting to see how the front office juggles this situation if they decide to go for Towns

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The message to Zion would be clear: We’re investing in you, not running from you.

The clock on Willie Green

Every report coming out of New Orleans suggests the same thing: the locker room is fractured. His voice doesn’t carry the same authority it once did, and the players seem to sense his job security waning.

When a coach loses the room, it’s rarely because of one thing; it’s because players stop believing that what’s being drawn up on the whiteboard will work. And when that happens, talent ceases to matter.

A trade for Towns would do more than just shake the roster; it would buy time. It would give the front office a justification for delay, for holding off on firing Green midseason. It would allow them to say, “We just changed the roster; let’s see what he does with this.” If Green still can’t find traction with an elite offensive big added to his system, the front office will have its answer.

Why it’s the right kind of overreaction

Overreactions are usually seen as impulsive. But in the NBA, the right overreaction can change a franchise’s destiny. The Bucks traded for Jrue Holiday after a second-round collapse, and they won a championship a year later.

New Orleans is at that point. Their offense is broken, their coach is fading, and their franchise player is trapped in another cycle of losing. Doing nothing is no longer an option.

Trading for Karl-Anthony Towns would be risky, sure. But it would also represent something that’s been missing from this team since the Anthony Davis era ended: conviction.

If the Pelicans truly believe they’re a Zion Williamson-led contender, then they have to prove it. Otherwise, they’ll be remembered as a team that kept waiting for the perfect moment while everything around them burned.