Heading into the offseason, the stars may finally be aligning for the New Orleans Pelicans to trade Zion Williamson.
Coming off another season headlined by injuries and underwhelming play, this may be the offseason where the New Orleans Pelicans finally come to the conclusion that it may be time to trade Zion Williamson. Since he entered the league back in 2019, Zion has never truly lived up to the hype.
There have been moments in which Zion has looked capable of being the face of the franchise talent that many touted him as coming out of Duke, but injuries have played too big a part through the first few years of his career. At this point, with the Pelicans at a crossroads, Zion's future with the team could very much be considered up in the air heading into the offseason. If there was ever a moment for the Pelicans to trade Zion, it could be this summer.
New Orleans could end up having a top-4 pick, if not better, in this year's NBA Draft and this could be the perfect opportunity to pivot away from a team built around Zion. If the right trade were to come across the wire for the Pelicans, they'd seriously have to think about pulling the trigger on a potential blockbuster deal centered around Williamson. One hypothetical deal that was proposed by Bleacher Report's Eric Pincus could work.
The proposed Zion Williamson trade
In this deal, the Pelicans would trade Zion, Jose Alvarado, and Jordan Hawkins to the Blazers for Shaedon Sharpe, Anfernee Simons, Duop Reath, a future first-round pick, and two trade exceptions. In theory, this trade would work but there could be some concerns on both sides. Let's break down this deal between the Blazers and the Pelicans by grading it from all sides.