Tag: Pelicans

Podcast: Futures of LeBron James and Zion Williamson, 2022 NBA free agency, Goran Dragic

HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto and Yossi Gozlan discuss the futures of LeBron James and Zion Williamson, 2022 NBA free agency, and why Goran Dragic signed with the Nets on the latest edition of the HoopsHype podcast.

For more interviews with players, coaches, and media members, be sure to like and subscribe to the HoopsHype podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and anywhere else you listen to podcasts. Listen to the podcast above or check out some snippets of the conversation in a transcribed version below.

Zion Williamson wasn’t mentioned on a Pelicans season ticket email and now everyone has questions about his future

Zion Williamson’s future might really be in question

Most of the chatter about Zion Williamson wanting to go elsewhere or trying to force his way out of New Orleans has fallen on deaf ears to this point.

I mean, sure. He could leave New Orleans. But it’d take a whole lot for that to happen and none of it really seems likely.

He’ll be a restricted free agent after next season. The Pelicans would have first right of refusal on an open market for any long-term deal at the very least. It never felt likely that Williamson would be in anything other than a Pelicans jersey for the foreseeable future.

But one email to Pelicans’ season ticket holders just brought out all of the collective eye emojis on the internet.

The Pelicans sent out an email to their season ticket holders doing the usual prodding to see who would renew. Y’all know how that goes. In those emails, the teams always include their best and most popular players. The ones that sell the tickets.

You know who wasn’t on there? You guessed it. The Pelicans’ number one overall pick from 3 seasons ago — Zion Williamson.

“Led by new Head Coach Willie Green and players Brandon Ingram, Jonas Valanciunas and CJ McCollum, the Pelicans are building something special across the street from the Caesars Superdome.”

Sheesh. Now, look. There’s plausible deniability here. Ingram, Valanciunas and McCollum are playing right now. They’re currently building something. Zion is obviously not, because he’s out and away from the team.

But they could also easily change that copy to include Williamson. That’s not a hard thing to do at all. And this — along with a report that executives around the NBA are bracing for a potential trade demand from Williamson — will not inspire any confidence in Pelicans fans or Williamson’s future in New Orleans.

This situation is starting to balloon into a big mess. NBA fans are loving it, of course.

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NBA Twitter reacts to CJ McCollum trade: ‘It’s time, Dame’

Here’s how NBA Twitter reacted to CJ McCollum being traded to the New Orleans Pelicans.

After eight years in Portland, CJ McCollum has been traded to the New Orleans Pelicans, per multiple reports.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski, the Blazers are sending McCollum, Larry Nance, and Tony Snell to New Orleans, in exchange for Josh Hart, Tomas Satoransky, Nickeil Walker-Alexander, Didi Louzada, a 2022 protected first-round pick, and two second-round picks.

NBA Twitter has been quick to play up the Damian Lillard angle after the biggest deal of trade deadline week so far:

NBA Twitter reacts to CJ McCollum trade: ‘It’s time, Dame’

After eight years in Portland, CJ McCollum has been traded to the New Orleans Pelicans, per multiple reports.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski, the Blazers are sending McCollum, Larry Nance, and Tony Snell to New Orleans, in exchange for Josh Hart, Tomas Satoransky, Nickeil Walker-Alexander, Didi Louzada, a 2022 protected first-round pick, and two second-round picks.

NBA Twitter has been quick to play up the Damian Lillard angle after the biggest deal of trade deadline week so far:

Podcast: Bradley Beal’s future and Jazz, Pelicans, Bulls trade targets

HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto and Yossi Gozlan discuss Bradley Beal’s future and why the Wizards could go after Domantas Sabonis and Jerami Grant. Plus, how the Jazz could upgrade following the Joe Ingles ACL injury, Pelicans trade targets, why Dennis Schroeder could be a fit for the Bulls, along with Bucks updates on the latest edition of the HoopsHype podcast.

For more interviews with players, coaches, and media members, be sure to like and subscribe to the HoopsHype podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and anywhere else you listen to podcasts. Listen to the podcast above or check out some snippets of the conversation in a transcribed version below.

NBA execs poll: Luka Doncic top player to build around; Evan Mobley voted ahead of Zion Williamson

In September of 2020, HoopsHype polled 15 NBA talent evaluators and asked them to rank their top five Under 25 players to build around. We have repeated the exercise with 17 NBA executives this time. There was no change at No. 1, but quite a few after that.

Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic remains the first choice, though he’s no longer the consensus pick after a somewhat disappointing first half of the season in which he’s still playing himself into shape.

Boston’s Jayson Tatum barely retains No. 2 with half the share of the vote of last season while Ja Morant moves up to No. 3.

LaMelo Ball and Trae Young went from no votes to cracking the top five.

In our scoring system, the top player received 10 points, the second received seven points, the third received five points, the fourth received three points, and the fifth player received one point for each ballot.

The results of the poll are listed below.

Postponed Sixers vs. Pelicans matchup rescheduled for January 25th

The postponed matchup between the Philadelphia 76ers and the New Orleans Pelicans has been rescheduled to January 25th.

The Philadelphia 76ers got some scheduling changes done on Monday from a game in December that was postponed due to COVID-19 issues. The Sixers had a matchup with the New Orleans Pelicans back on Dec. 19 that got postponed and they will now know when the game will be made up.

The NBA announced on Monday that the Sixers and the Pelicans will match up at the Wells Fargo Center on Jan. 25 at 7 p.m. EST. The Sixers knocked off the Pelicans back on opening night back in October on the road and they will be looking to sweep the season series with them when they finally make their trip to the City of Brotherly Love.

With the game being moved to the 25th, the Sixers had to have another game around that time moved up. Philadelphia had a back-to-back on Jan. 23 and Jan. 24 with the San Antonio Spurs and the Houston Rockets, respectively.

To avoid having the Sixers play three days ina  row, they moved the Jan. 24 matchup with the Rockets in Houston up to Jan. 10.

It is good for the Sixers to find out who they will play and when. It is good to know that their schedule is set at least.

This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!

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The ending of the Thunder-Pelicans game was completely ridiculous and you need to see it

What are the chances of this happening?!?

Look. I know the Pelicans and the Thunder are both pretty stinky NBA teams, generally.

Sure, they give you good games here and there. But these teams? They’re not in it for the wins. They’re in it for the tan…er,uh…improving the team as they head into the future.

So that means right now, neither team is particularly good. In fact, you could argue that they play some pretty bad basketball.

But the thing about bad basketball is that these are still professional NBA players. So even at their worst, they can give us the most ridiculously exciting and mind-numbingly silly sequences that we’ll be talking about for days, months and even years to come.

And that, folks, is how you’d perfectly describe the ending of the Pelicans-Thunder game. It was exciting. It was silly. It made absolutely no sense. But it was also perfect. So so so so perfect.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander hits what probably should’ve been a game-tying shot after the Pelicans try to foul him in the waning moments of the game. He hits that and you’re like “OK, cool. Overtime. Let’s do it.”

But, obviously, Devonte Graham had other plans.

YO. THAT DOESN’T MAKE ANY SENSE. NO SENSE AT ALL. HOW DID THIS HAPPEN!?!?!?

NBA fans were just shocked.

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NBA trade rumors: Jaylen Brown, Ben Simmons and more with Jake Fischer

HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto and Bleacher Report’s Jake Fischer discussed the latest rumors regarding Jaylen Brown, Ben Simmons, Russell Westbrook, Jerami Grant, Terrence Ross, De’Aaron Fox, Buddy Hield, Joe Harris, Nicolas Claxton, and more on the NBA trade market in the latest edition of the HoopsHype podcast.

For more interviews with players, coaches, and media members, be sure to like and subscribe to the HoopsHype podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and anywhere else you listen to podcasts. Listen to the podcast above or check out some snippets of the conversation in a transcribed version below.

Who should trade for Damian Lillard? A roundtable debate

If Damian Lillard asks out of Portland, here’s where he should go

The NBA Finals are in full swing and Olympic basketball is right around the corner.

But that doesn’t mean it’s too early to discuss potential offseason happenings. With the NBA Draft coming in just over a week, transactions between teams from around the NBA will be flying sooner rather than later.

And everyone has their eyes on what’s happening with Damian Lillard. Will Portland’s star stay or will he demand a trade? And who should trade for him? All very valid questions.

They’re also questions we attempted to answer as a staff. Here’s a look at our roundtable debate at where Lillard would fit best considering all of the different variables.

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