There have now been a few days to let the dust settle since the New Orleans Pelicans moved on from guard Jordan Hawkins, shedding his contract to open their books up a bit in a trade to the Memphis Grizzlies. Was this a good move for the Pelicans?
New Orleans sent Hawkins, Micah Peavy, a second and a second-round pick swap to the Grizzlies in exchange for young guard AJ Johnson and veteran forward Taj Gibson. The team has already waived Gibson, but Johnson will stick around to fight for a roster spot through training camp.
Trade Grade: D
The worst part of this move has nothing to do with the business done in the deal. The Pelicans did as much as they could to move off of Hawkins' money, outside of just waiving him and stretching the money. Of course, that option wouldn't have cost them the assets, though it could have caused a headache down the road.
The trade just should never have happened in the first place. New Orleans picked up Hawkins' fourth-year option ahead of last season's beginning. The writing was already on the wall that they shouldn't have picked that option up.
Hawkins had posted 9.2 points per game on 37.6/34.8/82.6 shooting splits over his first two seasons with no addition on defense. The Pelicans were 6.9 points worse per possession with him on the court as a rookie and 4.2 points worse in Year 2. That jumped up to 8.0 points last year.
Now, because of the short-sighted decision to pick up that contract, the team had to say goodbye to some intriguing assets in order to pull off the addition they really wanted to make in Bennedict Mathurin.
Instead of just signing Mathurin, they had to pay a premium to open up space. The second, the pick swap and Micah Peavy are all things they could have had.
Peavy wasn't a lottery pick or anything, but he showed a lot to like as a rookie, especially on the defensive end. As an older rookie, he could have been ready to contribute to a winning team off the bench, should he be able to find a little bit of efficiency through the air.
If the Pelicans want to salvage anything from this deal, they'll need Mathurin to prove worth the hassle, and potentially turn Johnson into something. He's been a project player in the NBA, but that was always what he was headed towards.
