In the 2021 offseason, the Pelicans and the Grizzlies conducted a trade, the Grizzlies recieved:
10 overall (Ziaire Williams)
Steven Adams
Eric Bledsoe on a pseudo-expiring contract
A top-10 protected Laker first (conveyed to 2 2nds).
40 in 2022
The Pelicans recieved:
17th overall (Trey Murphy)
Jonas Valanciunas
51 in 2022
~19 M in cap space
After Free Agency, the deal would be looped into the Pelicans S&T of Devonte Graham for a lottery-protected Pelican 1st in conjunction with the Ball S&T in order for New Orleans to operate as an over-the-cap team thus netting the trade exception used to bring in Larry Nance Jr. ~ 6 months later. The Grizzlies turned Bledsoe into Pat Bev, Rondo, and Daniel Oturu.
At the time the deal was looking at a win-win, even with all of the negativity on the Pelicans that offseason, but just about everything since then has gone south for Memphis.
The 2019 Pelicans #1 pick has boiled down to literally nothing
Am I doing this right?
i thought the Memphis FO did this deal bc they thought they could grab Giddey with their draft pick.
then OKC surprised people by taking Giddey at #6.
How bad would Ja have gotten if Steven Adams wasn’t the voice of reason in the locker room?
The deal was still a good one for the Grizzlies because of the positive impact Adams had in the growth of Morant and Bane. It’s still a good one because Adams was the better fit. Ziaire still has the potential to be a very good player and looked good during summer league.
Just because a trade may not end up looking as good/bad for a team down the line doesn’t mean it wasn’t a smart/poor decision at the time.