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The New Orleans Pelicans’ frustrating performance inside the bubble will likely have repercussions throughout the franchise. One of the consequences may be the firing of Alvin Gentry, whose future seems in doubt. But trades and roster movement will likely later come and a report this week cast some doubts whether Lonzo Ball could be one of the players shipped out.
In a piece on The Athletic, David Aldridge had this to say about Ball.
“Plus, people down in Orlando tell me Lonzo Ball looked like he’d checked out the whole time the Pels were there, and that they expect some significant roster adjustments in New Orleans before next season.”
First, let’s tackle the opening part of the quote in saying Ball was “checked out the whole time.” Quite simply, it’s hard to believe that based on how Ball played.
At no point during the games did he seem checked out as he was still flying around the court and putting in the same effort he did in the regular season. The difference in Ball’s performance in the bubble and in the regular season was that he didn’t make shots.
The most realistic scenario is that Ball’s demeanor, which is always even-keeled, can be portrayed as “checked out” when things aren’t going well. But when things are going well, his demeanor is exactly the same.
As for the latter half of Aldridge’s sentence, many interpreted it as Ball being one of the players likely to be traded. Not only is it unlikely Ball is traded, it’s also unlikely there is “significant” roster adjustments, though that could boil down to semantics.
First, Ball and Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations David Griffin have shared the desire for the former to remain in New Orleans. Ball’s best season in his professional career came in New Orleans and New Orleans benefitted from that. And if Gentry does remain as coach – a big if – then no point guard is better suited to run his offense than Ball.
It’s also hard to see the Pelicans undergo “significant” roster adjustements when that just happened one off-season prior. While a good chunk of this season was learning what the franchise had in its players, it’s hard to envision the team doing that all over again save for trading for a superstar.
It wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Pelicans make some minor moves like swapping out some of their guards for more forwards and wing players but that’s hardly considered a major adjustment. Along the same lines, three of the Pelicans five starters are under contract in Ball, Jrue Holiday and Zion Williamson. Brandon Ingram would only leave if hte Pelicans do not match his contract offer, an unlikely scenario.
And at the Pelicans peak this year with everyone healthy, the team was among one of the best in the Western Conference. There are plenty of reasons to believe the team should largely stick together moving forward and a lot of reasons to believe that Ball likely won’t be traded.