Bobby Marks’ 2025 New Orleans Pelicans Offseason Guide 📝 ‘IT COMES DOWN TO ZION’ | NBA on ESPN

Bobby Marks’ 2025 New Orleans Pelicans Offseason Guide 📝 ‘IT COMES DOWN TO ZION’ | NBA on ESPN

all right a happy Wednesday i guess it’s almost evening 5:30 here on the East Coast hopefully everyone is doing great out there we’re going to do an offseason uh video on the New Orleans Pelicans i think we have a couple teams left we have New Orleans we have Washington uh who else do we have left charlotte I believe although we did a um a video last week with the the Hornets um.com site so let’s do a little bit of um of New Orleans who made a trade on Tuesday i was out for a walk when a trade happened and I know people made fun of me because I had a hood on and I baldled and the angle wasn’t great but uh we did a 45 second clip and uh New Orleans acquires the 23rd pick in the draft which was Indiana’s and everyone’s like how do you make trades in the offseason when you’re still playing you are allowed to make trades in the offseason once you are eliminated from the playoffs if it involves players you are free to make any trade in the offseason if it’s regarding draft compensation no players if you are still playing in the case of uh Indiana they’re still playing of course and they were allowed to trade the 23rd pick in the draft uh the draft rights to Mojave King who they picked in the second round and Indiana got back their uh their their pick in 2026 new Orleans now has the seventh pick in a draft which is their own of course we know what happened tonight lottery we don’t need to rehash that and the 23rd pick in the draft the pick they traded uh back to Indiana was the Pacers it was top four protected in 2026 if you’re thinking of it from from the Pelican standpoint this Indiana team is going to be good again the pick probably might be worse than 23rd could be in the 20s high 20s and you’re taking the a little bit of a gamble you know certainly things could fall you know the wheels could fall off and that pick could be in the in the teens i don’t think it will be and now New Orleans under new leaders leadership leadership joe Dumar takes in for David takes over for David Griffin and now you go into the draft with seven and 23 as far as the state of the roster goes we don’t need to rehash the disaster of this past season i had New Orleans as kind of my wildcard team i said them in New Or and them in Memphis i remember in August on TV buying stock in both and if you bought stock in both you probably lost a lot of money here um but I just I I I understood the the the the DeJonte Murray trade and why you went out and acquired that certainly turned out to be a disaster based on Murray getting hurt and Dyson Daniels turning into an you know all world defender and the draft compensation that was sent as part of that deal that did not work out for you uh we had Zion on the court off the court injured and we’re going to go into him for a bit herb Jones Trey Murphy and the injuries have basically just ballooned into a 21 win team who I think when healthy they’re in the mix as far as one of these teams that can compete for a top six seed and a really good Western Conference certainly a playing team and we’re kind of at a little bit of a crossroads i think we are at a crossroads as far as where this roster is and we’ll we’ll see what happens the night of the draft at seven they’re in a spot and this is when you talk to teams and you talk to you know certainly our group internally and I think I might have said this before they’re in a spot in that three to eight spot where what you get at three could be the same player you get at seven or eight here and it’s going to be interesting as far as where New Orleans goes for a team that needs rebounding wing you know wing depth i think from a defensive standpoint they’re going to pro need a facilitator uh we don’t know when Dejante Murray comes back from that injury cj McComem is going into his last year of his contract there are some big decisions as far as Jeremiah fears for me the guard from Oklahoma City would be Oklahoma i said Oklahoma City oklahoma would be perfect for this group you could be looking at uh Kan Maluatch i keep on screwing up his name from Duke the big center i know you drafted Ease Missy last year so there’s going to be optionality for New Orleans in the draft and certainly at 23 as far as what you do there also as far as the roster and we David Griffin’s in out that Joe Dumar is in i like Joe Dumar’s certainly was in a league office and put a championship roster in together in Detroit but that was in 2004 we’re in 2025 right now things have certainly changed they brought on Troy Weaver willie Green still stays as head coach uh Troy goes in in a you know certainly in a you know vice president scouting role here former Pistons GM it listen we can do a 20-minute video but at the end of the day a lot of this comes down to Zion it really does and his contract I would say 99.9% is going to get guaranteed on July 15th there’s $8 million protected right now in it he has uh 39.5 of that becomes guaranteed on July 15th 42.1 40 42.2 and then 44.8 in the f last two years are non-g guaranteed there are metrics in the contract we’re not going to go into a whole video on this as far as becoming guaranteed based on games played there’s a body fat uh percentage there’s a weight clause in there he hit the weight clauses and the body fat percentage during this past year that’s why there’s roughly $8 million it comes down to Zion if Zion’s healthy you got a chance if he’s not healthy and past history has shown you the likelihood is that he is not going to be healthy when you play 30 games as he has uh this past year let me find out the Zion he has played in just 46% of the regular season games since drafted in 2019 um 30 games this year you saw when he played this year and I was in LA uh and saw them play the Lakers I think it was March and where Zion was incredible and you saw him a little bit playing de facto point guard and he could play center for you but what happens with Zion as far as where he is in from a physical standpoint I do think there gets to a point and I I’m not going to go into all the off-c court things um but there is a point where you’re basically like “Excuse my French you got to like or get off the pot as far as how you’re going to build this roster around and can you trust him as far as how you build your roster around him?” And it it feels like we go into every season and we’re like keeping our fingers crossed that Zion can stay healthy and then New Orleans has a chance and when he doesn’t have doesn’t stay healthy this team is a lottery team and we saw the Brandon Ingram trade um and that gave him a little bit flexibility because you don’t have to resign Ingram but a lot of it is on Zion a lot of it is going to be on the health of Murray on Herb Jones who’s coming off an injury and is on a great contract i see everybody writing “Yeah you could trade trade Herb for the eighth pick in the draft.” I’m like Herb’s on a great contract and he’s an allNBA defender and then you have TR Trey Murphy who’s going into that first year of that 44 I think 112 somewhere around there extension you’ve got there’s blueprints as far as some foundational pieces there but what are you going to do with CJ McCollum who’s on an expiring year if the goal is not to resign him to an extension and I think when you bring in new leadership you’re kind of in this evaluation period with with this group and you’ve got a bunch of guys on whether it be Jordan Hawkins or José Alvarado um you know these former first round picks and then you’re going to add two more you’re not going to be able to keep everyone when you when you keep both picks and then you have Antonio Reeves and Alfred Payeyton and Brandon Boston Jr who’s on both those guys have team options and then you add the two picks you got 15 players on your roster you’re at the you’re at the limit or the maximum for the regular season 21 you can carry in the offseason and where you are financially also is you’re $1.8 million uh below the below the luxury tax so basically what what that means is is that you’re $1.8 million below luxury tax you’re seven and change below the first apron what what that means is that you’re probably not bringing back Bruce Brown or unless you’re going to move off some money here and that’s kind of who you are from a roster standpoint kelly O Linux on an expiring it’s interesting it’s going to be interesting how aggressive Joe Dumar is and I think you learn a lot when you’re away from the league for a little bit and certainly Joe was involved in uh in the NBA for a bit and we’ve got all these different rules and who he surrounds himself from a support staff is going to be extremely extremely important you saw his first big move which was somewhat aggressive getting another first round pick but I’m intrigued as far as where New Orleans goes because the following year which is 2627 McCollum comes off comes off Zion’s got that non-g guaranteed contract there is the flexibility as far as how to shape your roster but one one or two bad moves in the in the Western Conference and you’re going to be back in the bottom of the standings trying to get out and it’s going to take you a long time here when you look at uh top front office priority we went over the finances certainly Zion but extension candidates to watch is CJ i would hard to see me on an extension herb Jones is also extension eligible which would be interesting team needs health of course identity on defense uh lowest defensive rebounding percentage this season gave up the second most points in the paint that is certainly important your draft equity you’ve got all your own first uh we talked about the pick that went back to Indiana from the um the uh the recent trade here you have uh you will send the um send the um least favorable of your own or Milwaukee to Atlanta in 2027 it’s top five protected uh Pelicans have the right to swaps with first with Milwaukee in 26 it’s unbelievable well that’s in the Drew Holiday trade and it worked out certainly for the Bucks and you’ve got six you got four seconds available to go so you’re you’re you’re good draft equity standpoint i think you’re probably in the top 11 12 from that standpoint but it all comes down to Zion and I know it’s kind of like we’re beat we’re beating a beating the horse on this as far as it sounds like a broken record every year here and I’m I’m interested if where if this roster stays healthy what is the upside of this roster and does what is the impact of the seventh pick in the draft have to a healthy roster and what are your optionality if you want to move around a little bit more in the draft here new Orleans is intriguing for me in a lot of different reasons and it starts next week with uh the night of the draft hopefully everyone is great we will do the remaining videos soon take care [Applause] [Music] me with the heat [Applause] [Music] [Applause]

Bobby Marks breaks down how the New Orleans Pelicans should manage Zion Williamson and reshape their roster this offseason.

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