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The New Orleans Pelicans have been on the search for a point guard in recent seasons. It is a void they have struggled to fill for a few years now.
In 2020, they traded Jrue Holiday to the Milwaukee Bucks. The following offseason, Lonzo Ball departed in free agency, signing a deal with the Chicago Bulls.
The Pelicans have used a team approach to getting into their offense since. CJ McCollum has handled a lot of the ball-handling duty, as has Brandon Ingram. At points, the offense was initiated by Zion Williamson as well.
New Orleans is hoping their point guard woes are solved by the addition of Dejounte Murray. He was acquired this offseason from the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for Dyson Daniels, Larry Nance Jr. and draft picks.
The point guard woes are why it should come as no surprise what direction Joey Akeley of Bleacher Report took the Pelicans in a massive NBA re-draft. In a fun exercise, the 2019-2023 draft classes were thrown together to make one massive fantasy draft.
The winning percentage for each team in the league determined the order for this ultimate draft. New Orleans came away with the No. 15 selection. With that pick, they added Cade Cunningham.
“At this point in the draft, the Pelicans had lost Zion Williamson, and ideally he'd be replaced with a frontcourt scorer. But there wasn't a scoring power forward or center worthy of being picked here, so I went with the best player available…
It's fair to question how Cunningham would fit with Brandon Ingram, but the Pelicans seem likely to trade him in real life, so it's not something worth getting hung up on here.
The Pelicans ended up also losing Trey Murphy III and Herbert Jones in this draft, which makes Cunningham's age (22) and superstar potential even more enticing. New Orleans would be playing the long game with this pick, and Cunningham has more long-term appeal than Darius Garland (24), Immanuel Quickley (25) and Desmond Bane (26),” Akeley wrote.
The No. 1 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, Cunningham is immensely talented. He signed a max rookie scale extension with the Detroit Pistons this offseason as he has made strides in each season of his career.
Last season, he averaged 22.7 points and 7.5 assists per game, strong stats when considering his sometimes lackluster supporting cast. His scoring saw a jump because of improved efficiency, as he made 44.9 percent of his shots overall and 35.5 percent from 3-point range, both career highs along with the points and assists.
That hasn’t helped the Pistons win many games, but the Oklahoma State product is a cornerstone piece. He would be the same for the Pelicans, someone they can build their roster around for years to come.
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Lakers reportedly monitoring two-time All-Star's availability
The Los Angeles Lakers finished last season with a dud after propelling to the third seed of the Western Conference, losing to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the playoffs. The one thing that the Wolves exposed was the Lakers' lack of an inside presence. The center spot was weak once they traded Anthony Davis for Luka Doncic midway through the season, but they found a way to manage despite putrid numbers coming from the center position. The Lakers were bottom five in both rebounds and points per game for centers during the regular season after the All-Star break. However, in the postseason, the numbers got worse. They tried to use their original starting center, Jaxson Hayes, to man the paint, but he only played 7.8 minutes per game while only scoring 1.8 points and grabbing two rebounds per contest. This team knows it needs extreme levels of help for the center spot, which is why it is reportedly looking at a former All-Star center's situation. Anthony Irwin of ClutchPoints reported that the Lakers are closely monitoring the situation between Nikola Vucevic and the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls have shipped out several key players over the last year, with Vucevic being the lone former All-Star still on the roster. As his trade market winds down, some have speculated that a potential buyout is on the horizon. However, Chicago Bulls insider K.C. Johnson reported on "The Fastbreak" podcast that the Bulls have no intentions of a buyout and would like to move him for assets at the trade deadline. Vucevic would be a massive upgrade alongside Deandre Ayton, whom the Lakers signed earlier in the offseason. Vucevic put up very impressive numbers last season, averaging 18.5 points and 10.1 rebounds per game while shooting 53% from the field in 73 games. His career numbers are just as impressive, and he's a former two-time All-Star as well. The Lakers should continue to monitor Vucevic and assess the Bulls' ultimate plan for him. With Ayton already in the fold, a trade for Vucevic could put them at the top of the Western Conference.
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Five biggest losers from the 2025 MLB trade deadline
The 2025 Major League Baseball trade deadline was 6 p.m. ET on Thursday. Some teams managed to get better in either a short-term or long-term outlook. Other teams did not. We've already gone over the five biggest winners, which featured some surprising teams. Here we are focusing on the five teams that were the biggest losers. Minnesota Twins The good news for Twins fans is the team did not trade outfielder Byron Buxton or starting pitcher Joe Ryan. The bad news for Twins fans is the team traded pretty much everybody else. The worst news is the Twins have pretty much sabotaged any goodwill the team had built up in recent years, including their 2023 trip to the American League Division Series. Since then the Twins collapsed late last season, did very little in the offseason and then completely gutted the roster over the past two weeks, including a straight salary-dump trade of Carlos Correa to the Houston Astros, his former team. This is going to be a long, slow climb back to the top. Pittsburgh Pirates The Pirates had a chance to have a potentially impactful trade deadline with some intriguing trade chips in what had become a seller's market. They ended up trading closer David Bednar, third baseman Ke'Bryan Hayes, starting pitcher Bailey Falter and relief pitcher Caleb Ferguson. They held on to pending free agents Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Tommy Pham and Andrew Heaney. What's so baffling about the trades they did make is that they gave up useful, productive players with years of team control still remaining, did not get a single highly-ranked prospect back in return and kept the players that are going to leave for nothing. The only winner here is owner Bob Nutting's bank account for all of the money he saved in the future by dumping Hayes' contract and potential arbitration years from Bednar and Falter. Chicago Cubs After paying a steep price to get outfielder Kyle Tucker in the offseason everybody in Chicago knew the clock was ticking on the Cubs to build a winner around him. He is a free agent after this season and seems determined to hit the open market for the highest bidder. Even though the Cubs have emerged as a contender, it was pretty clear as the season has gone on that they needed at least one more starting pitcher. They did not get one, and instead only added a utility infielder (Willi Castro) and reliever Taylor Rogers. While so many teams around them in the NL managed to get better, it's an underwhelming deadline performance for a team that should be going all in. Atlanta Braves It's not that the Braves did anything poor at the trade deadline that makes them losers. It's that they didn't do ... anything. At least not anything that they needed to do. None of their pending free agents were moved, no significant changes were made to a team going nowhere this season and the only move they did make was a marginal trade involving Rafael Montero. That is extremely underwhelming. Boston Red Sox The Red Sox were rumored to be in the market for a significant starting pitcher, including Minnesota's Joe Ryan. They did not make that sort of splash move, and instead added Steven Matz and Dustin May. For a team trying to hang in the American League playoff race, that is not really exciting. They also paid a steep price to get May, giving up one of the top prospects — outfielder James Tibbs III — they acquired in the Rafael Devers trade to the San Francisco Giants.
Erik Karlsson's Trade Demands to the Penguins Release Publicly
Erik Karlsson is one of a few Penguins likely on the move soon, and now the one thing the veteran blue liner wants in a new team has been officially revealed. After missing the Stanley cup Playoffs for three straight seasons, the Pittsburgh Penguins come into this off-season as sellers, with the trio of Rickard Rakell, Bryan Rust and Erik Karlsson becoming notable names in trade speculation. While all three have a high likelihood of being moved as Kyle Dubas and the Penguins look towards the future, NHL Insider Frank Seravalli has suggested this off-season that Karlsson is the most likely of all to be moved in the summer. Now, Seravalli has followed up on the speculation, revealing another key piece of this scenario, as the veteran NHL Insider notes the one demand that Karlsson has in potential trade talks. According to Seravalli, Karlsson wants a chance to win, and given the contract that a team would potentially need to take on to bring him in, it's safe to say that only contending teams out there would be interested, with very little in it for teams that won't be chasing a Stanley Cup in the near future. As of right now, there are very few teams around the NHL that could fit Karlsson in as well as giving him the opportunity to win, with Detroit, Dallas and Carolina three teams that fit the bill, with all three having rumoured interest in an upgrade on their blue line. Ultimately, all the signs this off-season point to Karlsson being moved at some point before the 2025/26 campaign begins, and while the options are limited given his contract and his desire to win, there's no reason why a trade can't be made in the next few months.
Micah Parsons would elevate Vikings DC Brian Flores' unit to another level, but the price is prohibitive
The Minnesota Vikings have one of the best units in the National Football League with Brian Flores' defense. Last season, the Vikings were a top 10 unit, including second in rushing defense. The pass rush got 48 sacks over the course of the season, with Jonathan Greenard netting 12.0 and Andrew Van Ginkel 11.5. Plus, they have Dallas Turner set to emerge as one of the next great pass rushers. Where things get really interesting is what the Vikings might be willing to do to elevate the unit to an astronomical level. Could they choose to find their Justin Jefferson on the defensive side of the football in the form of Dallas Cowboys edge rusher Micah Parsons? He requested a trade from the Cowboys on Friday as he currently looks for a new contract. The impetus of this ask is pretty simple: Jerry Jones won't engage with Parsons' agent David Mulugheta on an extension, becuase he believed that a deal was already agreed upon with the player directly. It's a wild story overall, but one that Cowboys fans have dealt with before. They have had issues locking up Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb over the last five years with similar situations where the Cowboys were waiting until the last second, causing them to pay top dollar after they already had to. With Parsons, he wanted to sign a contract last offseason to get it done, and the Cowboys would have been able to get a deal done for around $35 million per season, whereas his deal will now be at least $41 million, as it's the top of the market. Sounds like a no-brainer right? Well, it would be for any other franchise, but not the Cowboys. Now, they are in a position where their best player wants out. Will they entertain trade offers? Intial reports are no, but it's not out of the question, especially if Parsons forces the issue. He is one of just two players in NFL history, joining Reggie White with 12+ sacks in each of their first four seasons. That sounds like it could be pretty incredible for the Vikings, right? It's especially enticing because of what Parsons is. Not only is he an elite pass rusher, but Parsons drops back into coverage plenty. He was a middle linebacker for Penn State in college and can do a lot off the ball. Sounds exactly like what Flores likes to do, right? Parsons would be a perfect asset for the Vikings defense. However, there is one thing that needs to be taken into account: Parsons is incredibly cost-prohibitive both short and long-term for where the Vikings are at. Let's break it down. Parsons from a scheme fit is perfect. He can do a little bit of everything both on and off the ball. Having that kind of skill set is how the Vikings brought in Van Ginkel and Turner, plus Greenard can do some of that when you need it, just not at as high of a level as his counterparts. What Flores could do with a player of Parsons' level is insane. Now, what would you have to pay to get a player who is on a list with the great Reggie White? It's arguably two or more first-round picks, plus adding a young player like Turner would be on the table. It would be a fair offer to send two firsts and Turner for Parsons and something else, like a third-round pick. The Khalil Mack trade is something that is a good comparison point, but Parsons is arguably better than Mack. The reality here is simple: it would be really cool to see Parsons play for Flores, but it's not in the cards for the Vikings. The cost is too much both financially and in draft picks as well. It would be great to see, but other teams make more sense. It's not going to happen, although it would rule.
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