With the 2026 New Orleans Pelicans season concluded, president of basketball operations Joe Dumars took to the podium to meet with the local media and talk about the vision for this offseason. It was Dumars' first time speaking publicly since firing Willie Green, so there was a lot to go over.

Dumars spoke on a number of topics for around 50 minutes and was fairly open the entire time. There was a lot of good information shared, but here are four of the most important things discussed:

Joe Dumars Quote: "We have no intentions of [trading Williamson]. You know, we're going into the offseason looking forward to having Zion coming back next year and playing great again next year."

One of the biggest questions each year following the Pelicans is whether or not it'll be time to trade Williamson. Dumars is getting ahead of it now and saying that there is no intention to move him.

Outside of an early oblique injury, this season was a massive step forward for Williamson in terms of availability. He played in a career-high 35 straight games after that injury. Dumars spent a lot of time praising the maturity and effort shown by the team's star. That's at least one of the worries surrounding Williamson that is fading away.

New Orleans, for now, seems to be committed to building around this core. Dumars is confident in this vision. It'll be interesting to see what happens with Williamson's teammates.

Joe Dumars Quote: "We definitely have a chance to... You can always move, you know, when it comes around draft time. It's amazing the amount of phone calls you take just in terms of being able to move in the first, second, move out."

It hasn't been talked about much, but the Pelicans actually don't have their first-round pick this season (sarcasm). With how aggressive this front office seems to get around the draft, it would almost be a shock not to see them end up making a move to get back into a loaded class.

This is where one of the other members of the core could be on the move. Dejounte Murray and Herb Jones are the two players who get talked about the most in terms of first-round value. Trey Murphy as well, but the odds of him getting traded are far lower. New Orleans also clearly isn't afraid to move future picks.

Joe Dumars Quote: "James Borrego is a candidate. No, we don't have a list [of candidates], in terms of ready to put it out publicly anyway. But, you know, we're having internal conversations."

A lot of people seem certain that New Orleans is going to hire either Darvin Ham or Kevin Ollie this offseason. Dumars didn't drop any names, but spent a lot of time emphasizing that what is being reported about the team's process is far from the truth. 

He said the team is going to take its time to find the best candidate possible and not just go with someone because there is a pre-existing relationship. He was also very complimentary of what Borrego did taking over the team in the state that it was when he got the job.

Joe Dumars Quote: "I would add more toughness to this team. We have to be able to compete every night. We cannot get banged around, pushed around. We have to be physical and compete every night. There were some nights we did it, but it's just too many nights that we didn't compete at a high enough level for me."

It should be no surprise that someone who played on that late 80s/early 90s Detroit Pistons team wants to play tough. This is what was also said last year, but then they added guys like Jordan Poole and Derik Queen, who are more finesse than toughness.

The Pelicans did get bullied at times throughout the season, specifically on the boards. It wasn't even an effort issue most of the time; they just didn't have the personnel to play that brand of basketball. Now, at least, they have a clear goal for the offseason.

Getting Queen to bulk up and trading Poole will go a long way to fixing that. Yves Missi also needs to get stronger so that they can compete with teams that have bigger centers.