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Keith Smith: Picks in the Celtics-Bulls trade, per a league source: To Boston: Denver Nuggets 2027 second-round pick To Chicago: most favorable 2026 second-round pick of Minnesota Timberwolves, New Orleans Pelicans, New York Knicks, Portland Trailblazers (likely to be NOP)
Rod Boone: Final: #Hornets 102, Pelicans 95 LaMelo 24 pts, 8 rebs, 5 asts Kon Knueppel 17 pts, 9 rebs, 2 asts Brandon Miller 16 pts, 8 rebs, 4 asts Grant Williams 16 pts, 9 rebs That's now seven straight for first time since 2016. Up next: at Houston on Thursday
Ian Begley: I still think they're going to be in on Jose Alvarado. I think Yves Missi is on their radar. That's been the case for a little bit a while now. Still think they're outside looking in on Giannis Antetokounmpo and I think that they're going to continue to make calls and see what's available. The interesting thing to me is in Memphis, the Ja Morant situation unsettled, Jaren Jackson Jr. even being mentioned as a guy who could be moved if they decide to go completely opposite direction. So, there are still things out there even outside of Giannis where everybody's kind of waiting and watching for that deadline.
There was a school of thought that Boston would look to shed salary at the deadline. But the Celtics have been taking the opposite approach recently, looking for ways to improve their roster. As others have noted, the Celtics have talked to teams about deals that would improve their front line. Also worth watching: what happens in Orlando. Goga Bitadze has been a DNP-CD in the past three games. New York had strong interest in Bitadze last offseason. The Knicks have had interest in New Orleans’ Yves Missi. If Orlando makes Bitadze available ahead of the deadline, logic tells you the Knicks would at least check in with the Magic.
Will Guillory: Final: Pelicans 114, Grizzlies 106 Another strong performance from the Pels with most of their guys healthy. Derik Queen had 22 pts, 9 rebounds and 7 assists. Saddiq Bey had 22 points and 8 rebounds. Zion Williamson had 21 points on 7-10 shooting. Pels improve to 3-1 over their last 4 games. They're starting to figure some things out on both ends of the floor.
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There is a growing sentiment that the Pelicans would prefer to move one — if not both — of the contracts attached to Jordan Poole and Dejounte Murray. Poole, a healthy DNP in the Pelicans’ last two games, is having an awful season, and keeping him on the floor has been difficult for a team fighting to establish a defensive identity. Along with his defensive struggles, Poole is shooting 37 percent from the field, the second-lowest shooting percentage of anyone this season with at least 300 field goal attempts. Poole still has one year and $34 million left on his deal after this season, a point of major criticism for the Pelicans after they traded for him last summer.
Jose Alvarado is another Pelicans veteran point guard who will receive some interest on the open market. The 27-year-old is averaging 7.9 points and 3.2 assists per game, and is viewed by several teams as a reserve who could have an immediate impact with the right team. He has a $4.5 million player option remaining on his deal after this season. League sources have told The Athletic that the Knicks, Spurs and Houston Rockets are among the teams to express interest in Alvarado. However, those familiar with Alvarado’s thinking have said his preference is to remain in New Orleans.
Jordan Hawkins, who the New Orleans Pelicans selected with the No. 14 pick in the 2023 draft, is another name to keep an eye on, according to league sources. Hawkins’ playing time has dipped considerably in his third season, and both sides would prefer to find him a new home.
Brandon Rahbar: Lu Dort and Jeremiah Fears have each been fined $25,000. No suspensions for either player.
If the Warriors don't acquire Antetokounmpo, there isn't anyone on the current trade market who will force this level of asset aggression from them, team sources said. They've maintained a level of interest in New Orleans Pelicans wing Trey Murphy III, but have been stonewalled in conversations by a Joe Dumars-Troy Weaver front office that has so far voiced an unwillingness to move most of their young core, league sources said.
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The Los Angeles Lakers have gauged the trade market looking for 3-and-D wing help, with targets ranging from Herb Jones to Andrew Wiggins to Jonathan Kuminga to Saddiq Bey, etcetera. With that in mind, the Lakers have dangled the expiring contracts of Rui Hachimura ($18.26 million), Gabe Vincent ($11.5 million), and Maxi Kleber ($11 million) on the trade market, league sources told HoopsHype.
New Orleans Pelicans center Yves Missi has drawn significant trade interest, including the Pacers, Hawks, Celtics, Knicks, Bulls, Lakers, and Raptors as suitors, league sources told HoopsHype. Amid trade talks, the Pelicans have signaled that they’d want a first-round pick to consider parting with Missi, league sources said.
The Pelicans, sources say, would specifically like to move Missi if the deal brings back a first-round pick for New Orleans in the upcoming June draft in hopes of selecting another top prospect alongside rookies Queen and Jeremiah Fears. Sources say that the Pelicans have already turned down at least one offer of multiple second-rounders for Missi. We'll be intently tracking whether New Orleans is ultimately offered a first-rounder for Missi in the next eight days. If not now, New Orleans would have the option of waiting until draft night in June, when more teams figure to be willing to part with a selection in the late teens or early twenties when they're on the clock and have a better sense of their options
On Time began when Sessions’ 11-year NBA career came to an end and, during the COVID-19 pandemic, he began to reflect on his impact on the next generation of professional basketball players. Eventually, he went into his basement and began drawing the blueprints of an agency on notebooks and loose paper with a core concept: to create a player-driven firm run by someone who had actually lived the life. In 2022, after a two-year-stint as the Pelicans Director of Basketball Operations, Sessions joined a short list of former NBAers who went on to become NBPA certified and officially became an agent. The only other former NBAers to become agents are LIFT Sports Management’s Mike Miller and Seven1 Sports & Entertainment Group’s Tracy McGrady and Jermaine O’Neal. Of the quartet, only Miller and Sessions are NBPA certified.