Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

New Orleans Pelicans Have 'No Interest' In Trading Popular Target

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Ryan Brooks | Last updated Dec 12, 2024 12:09 PM ET

The New Orleans Pelicans are under the spotlight, but not for the right reason. They are 5-20 on the season, however they have a home contest tonight against the Sacramento Kings to try and improve upon that.

They've been a bad basketball team this season, and they've been a mediocre club in recent history.

This season, in particular, injuries have been the downfall of the Pelicans. For Zion Williamson, that has been the case for much of his career, outside of two seasons where he surpassed 60 games played. Brandon Ingram, CJ McCollum and Dejounte Murray have all spent time sidelined with injuries.

Because of their inability to put things together with their current core, the Pelicans might be incentivized to move on from some of their core players in the near future.

Lately, the idea of moving on from the likes of Williamson and Ingram has been circulated, as well as reports of teams checking in on McCollum.

Pelicans have "no interest" in trading one key contributor

One questionable report was that teams are calling regarding Pelicans role player Herb Jones. The defensive ace is going to be highly coveted on the trade market, though he's apparently not going to be available.

Marc Stein reported that New Orleans has "no interest" in trading Jones, sources tell The Stein Line.

Given Jones' team-friendly contract and huge impact in his role player role -- trading him away never made sense. Sure, trading stars for a solid return makes sense, but not trading a player like Jones given his current situation.

It'll be interesting to see if New Orleans can get healthy and try and put things together, or how they will approach the trade deadline and trades throughout the season.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: