The New Orleans Pelicans are better situated today than they ever were with Anthony Davis. Zion Williamson is the real deal. Brandon Ingram is finally the guy we thought he would be. He just needed to get away from LeBron (who makes all of his teammates worse) in order for that to happen. With those two ingredients, New Orleans can actually build a championship team. The question is whether the Pelicans will ever find their third star to get it done?
I get that the Pelicans don’t want to trade Jrue Holiday, but it’s the only way they can actually win a championship. The Zion and Ingram duo is at least two years away from doing serious damage in the postseason. By that time, Holiday will be 31. Not a dinosaur by any means, but it’s not ideal. If New Orleans wants to win a championship, they need to find a third star that matches the timeline of Zion and Ingram.
People think that these kind of teams have time to find that third guy. In reality, they don’t. New Orleans won’t have any meaningful cap space once they max Brandon Ingram. Then they will have to figure out if they want to extend Lonzo Ball. He’s shown some promise, but not enough for a huge contract. Then again, if you don’t match, you are throwing away part of the Anthony Davis return. New Orleans has to strike now.
Now they could hold onto Holiday, but it only makes sense IF they think the Lakers will stink in the future. LA owes New Orleans a bunch of draft picks from the Davis trade. Hitting a home run with one of those picks is easier said than done. The NBA Draft is HARD. You get to scout kids who are true freshman that flock right to the NBA and then 2 percent of them are ready to play.
You’re more likely to end up with a guy like Kris Dunn than you are Jamal Murray. If New Orleans wants to win a championship, I’m not sure even a Jamal Murray type in the draft is enough. Winning a championship in the NBA is hard. It’s basically impossible when you have to do it internally in a market like New Orleans.
Will the Pelicans ever find their third star? I really hope they do because I can only imagine how fun that will be to watch. I’m not sure we have ever seen a player like Zion. Brandon Ingram shows us what 90 percent of Kevin Durant looks like. They need one more guy to cap it off.
