Hanifan's Offseason Outlook: Evaluating the New Orleans Pelicans' 2025 offseason

For our second annual offseason outlook series, Hot Hot Hoops senior writer Matt Hanifan will provide his take on the offseasons of all 30 teams for the next 30 days! We have already completed the Eastern Conference, so we will proceed in alphabetical order with the West before capping it all off with the Miami Heat. Today, we will be evaluating the New Orleans Pelicans’ offseason.

Past Previews:

Sept. 1: Atlanta Hawks
Sept. 2: Boston Ce l tics
Sept. 3: Brooklyn Nets
Sept. 4: Charlotte Hornets
Sept. 5: Chicago Bulls
Sept. 6: Cleveland Cavaliers
Sept. 7: Detroit Pistons
Sept. 8: Indiana Pacers
Sept. 9: Milwaukee Bucks
Sept. 10: New York Knicks
Sept. 11: Orlando Magic
Sept. 12: Philadelphia 76ers
Sept. 13: Toronto Raptors
Sept. 14: Washington Wizards
Sept. 15: Dallas Mavericks
Sept. 16: Denver Nuggets
Sept. 17: Golden State Warriors
Sept. 18: Houston Rockets
Sept. 19: Los Angeles Clippers
Sept. 20: Los Angeles Lakers
Sept. 21: Memphis Grizzlies
Sept. 22: Minnesota Timberwolves

Evaluating the New Orleans Pelicans’ 2025 offseason:

Additions: Jordan Poole, Kevon Looney, Saddiq Bey, Jalen McDaniels, Jaden Springer

Subtractions: Kelly Olynyk, C.J. McCollum, Bruce Brown, B.J. Boston, Lester Quinones, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Antonio Reaves, Elfrid Payton, Jamal Cain

Re-signed: Herb Jones

Draft: Jeremiah Fears (No. 7 overall), Derik Queen (No. 13), Micah Peavy (No. 40)

Hanifan’s outlook: The highlight — or lowlight, depending on how you want to look at it — of the Pelicans’ summer was moving up 10 spots (from No. 23 to 13) on draft night and selecting Maryland’s Derik Queen. However, first-year vice president of basketball operations Joe Dumars traded the Pelicans’ unprotected 2026 first-round pick, a catastrophically bad move in every conceivable way.

Marred by injury, New Orleans had the second-worst season in its team’s history last year. You couldn’t have scripted a worse season in your wildest dreams.

To add insult to injury — literally — Zion Williamson has played just 40 percent of his team’s games just twice in five years. I believe the team’s core of Dejounte Murray, Trey Murphy III and Herb Jones will be healthier. But this roster, collectively, isn’t talented enough to deal with more poor injury luck in 2025-26. And if they do, they won’t have their own first.

Regardless if they do stay healthy, this team’s ceiling is a No. 7 or 8 seed, at best. I don’t see that happening; the West is too deep.

I can’t say I loved trading away two solid vets in C.J. McCollum and Kelly Olynyk for Jordan Poole and Saddiq Bey (recovering from an ACL tear), either. Poole was objectively bad in Washington and has more guaranteed money than McCollum, who could’ve fetched more at next February’s deadline as an expiring.

All in all, Dumars had a bad first summer in New Orleans. It was similar to his final years in Detroit, which were a disaster. Perhaps I’ll be wrong in the end but there were several missteps here. I do like Jeremiah Fears’ potential, though.