Ja Morant and Santi Aldama trade to the New Orleans Pelicans More Realistic After Draft Lottery

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:01]After the draft lottery, the time could be right for New Orleans to make a big move for John Morant, especially because the Grizzlies might also include the exact player New Orleans needs. It's locked on Pelicans. Let's go.

[00:00:19]You are Locked On Pelicans, your daily New Orleans Pelicans podcast, part of the Locked On Network. Your team every day.

[00:00:30]Welcome to Lockdown Pelicans. I'm Jake Madison. Today I'm going to tell you why it's probably, if the Pelicans are going to do this, the right time to make a move for John Moran and why a deal could easily come together and also net the Pelicans a guy like Santi Aldama who could really help fix the big man issue that this team has. I then want to get into the Bucks shopping Giannis and what that means for the Pelicans future pick.

[00:00:55]It matters. They have a deal still tied with Milwaukee from the Drew Holiday trade. Could the Pelicans get in on a deal for uh for Giannis. It's not as easy as you think, unfortunately. And then I want to get into Barago's maybe minuscule chances of getting this Pelicans head coaching job. So, let's dive into it in today's episode of Locked On Pelicans. The Memphis Grizzlies were big winners on draft lottery night on Sunday, jumping from the six spot up to the three spot.

[00:01:25]That's a gamecher for him in a draft where you're looking at at least three guys kind of being the gamechanging kind of players. All of a sudden, they have a franchise cornerstone that they didn't necessarily have before. They've had some good players on their team. They have some really good young guys that I think people are very very high on, but none of them really scream like you can build around this type of player. So, when you see that, right, you need to, you know, Cedric Coward has been great.

[00:01:52]Jaylen Wells has looked really good for them, too. They still have Zack Edy.

[00:01:56]None of those guys scream like this is the franchise cornerstone. Good players, complimentary pieces when you find the guy. Well, they're in position now to take the guy depending on how this lot, you know, the draft plays out right now.

[00:02:12]They're looking at getting one of AJ Debansa, Darren Peterson, or Cameron Boozer. All of those guys are going to be real good in the NBA. Most of them, most people think like those are franchise guys. So the Grizzlies land that all of a sudden everything changes for this team. Everything changes for this team. We already know that they've been trying to move John Morant all you know before and no one really was interested in him at the deadline. We don't really know if New Orleans was actually really in talks for him here.

[00:02:40]Markstein, Jake Fischer, two of the people I trust the most when it comes to reporting basically said no, New Orleans was not in the mix for him at all. So that makes me think maybe New Orleans wasn't looking at it. But that was also probably because at the time you would imagine the Memphis Grizzlies did not want to take on bad contracts in Deontay Murray and Jordan Pool. Jordan Pool at that point looking like he's got another year left on his deal. Deonte Murray with two more years on his contract.

[00:03:07]While John Moran also has two years left on his deal and for a lot of money, you still don't want to take like back bad money if you don't have to. and so they didn't move him and nothing would ever come together. But all of a sudden now you have your franchise cornerstone. Who cares if you're taking back longerterm contracts than you would like. Your timeline is now around that player and it should be targeting his third year, his third year for when you make a real big jump. So taking on a player with two years left on his deal like Dejonte Murray sounds pretty good. Now Jordan Pool's an expiring contract all of a sudden. You're not paying him for a year and a half. you could probably look to move him or let him expire. And if you let him expire and let that 34 million come off the books, it gives you financial flexibility not to use cap space to sign players because you're not going to really do it that way, but to take on other bad contracts into your cap space and get more draft picks. And that's how you truly build a winner.

[00:04:00]This is what the Oklahoma City Thunder did. And now all of a sudden, the Memphis Grizzlies are in a great position to be able to do this. So here's the trade. John Morant and Santi Alama for DeJonte Murray and Jordan Pool. John Morant has the same amount of years as Murray going forward, but make significantly more money. They kind of wash each other out here. Jordan Pool is a big expiring contract that looks more appealing now than he did previously.

[00:04:29]John, normally you'd need to attach draft picks to him to move him. That's how much that contract is that contract is seen as an albatross right now. So you get John Morant who has a very high ceiling as a player. We know what he's capable of. But truthfully for me, this is about Santi Aldama and we'll get into him here in a second. You know, you you could make the argument that Memphis doesn't want Deontay Murray's contract with two more years. You could just keep John Maran if that's the case. But the thing is, one, it's the money.

[00:04:59]Murray makes less than Morant does. But the other thing is this isn't really about the years or the money. This is about the Grizzlies need to turn the page from the John Morant era and get a clean break. They need to move him. It's really as simple as that. If he's around, even if he's playing, he's going to be sulking a little bit. It's tough to turn the page, turn the corner to a new era if that's going to be the case.

[00:05:21]So, they need to move on from John Morant specifically. And if you can get someone like Santi Aldama in here instead of attack, you know, them attaching draft capital, that's the guy I want. Aldama gives a lot of what New Orleans needs. This is someone who averaged last season 14 points per game, almost seven rebounds, three assists, but he also took almost five three-point attempts per game and shot 35%. The year before that, he took five attempts per game and shot it at a 37% rate. It's not incredible, but it's not bad, particularly for a big man here. The Pelicans have just never had that stretch four, that stretch five that plays at a high level next to Zion Williamson. They've had little flashes here and there, right? Nicolo Melly was that guy in theory. You have other people, you know, uh, that have been Carlo Makovich is that in theory, but not doing it in significant enough minutes at a high enough level to really be that guy. Santi Aldama, while not perfect, is definitely a player that kind of fits that bill that we just haven't seen next to Zion Williamson.

[00:06:24]And if you're keeping Zion Williamson, if you're keeping Derrick Queen, you need this other kind of big man with them. He's a decent enough rebounder.

[00:06:30]He's a worse defensive rebounder than Derrick Queen is by the numbers. So, that is something that's worth keeping in mind here. He's not particularly elite at it, but the three-point shooting can definitely be real, and I'd be very interested in putting him on this team, especially in a trade like this where you're not giving up your own draft capital to go get a guy like Aldama. I'm also interested in the idea of because you're going to just need more size out there. Could you run some sort of lineup where, you know, you move Murray, you move you move um pool, I just completely space on the trade that's written in front of me. Do you run some weird starting lineup with Herb Jones, Trey Murphy, Zion Williamson? Maybe you don't do this as your starters, but you know, think about a lineup that is Herb Jones, Trey Murphy, Zion Williams, Santi Alama at the four, and Derek Queen at the five or Queen at the four and Aldama at the five. There's a lot of size out there.

[00:07:27]All of a sudden, there's some more shooting than you had before in a in a lineup like that from Santi Alama. I'm a little bit interested in that idea and what that could look like. So, this solves a couple of problems. It just gets you on from players that you know Jordan Pool is not going to really be a big player for you next year. It moves you away from Dejonte Murray, but it gets you a Jarant. You get a rotation piece in Santi Alama, a potential starter in Santi Alama that really helps with your big man rotation that they need. I I'm intrigued at the idea of this. I don't think that's exactly like the center they they need to be the starter. I think you you might need to just get a rebounder truthfully. I think but if you if you pair them with enough size right lineups where you have Zion at the three and then Queen and Aldama out there you know maybe it's not Trey and her maybe it's Trey maybe it's Fears whatever it might be you can put in some different combinations that just give you a lot of size and maybe you can make up for the the lack of an elite defensive rebounder a singular player by doing it in terms of team defensive rebounding. I think that could be an option for the New Orleans Pelicans to try and do. It's intriguing to say the least. And I think now, you know, in this deal, one of the things that was kind of a sticking point in the past was also Contavius Caldwell Pope being included by the Memphis Grizzlies. But all of a sudden, now he's a $17 million expiring. You have an $34 million expiring in Jordan Pool. That gets you awful lot of money. Or you could use that to trade those guys for something.

[00:08:55]It's an interesting idea. At the very least, this adds um about $5 million to the Memphis Grizzlies in their cap sheet. But look, they've got a number of like medium contracts they can move.

[00:09:07]Maybe they just don't care about Walter Clayton Jr. who came over in the Jiren Jackson Jr. trade. Okay, you could include him to New Orleans, right? Maybe you don't care about a Scottie Pippen Jr. as a backup point guard. Maybe he makes sense for New Orleans to try and get in this, too. There's a number of different players. Maybe Omax Prosper is a guy that you're interested in. You could include those to take some of the like salary burden off of the Memphis Grizzlies a little bit here while also shaving some salary from New Orleans as well. This this feels like a very realistic option all of a sudden to me.

[00:09:38]I'm not the biggest John Marant guy.

[00:09:40]That's not who I would be targeting truthfully, but you know at this point if you're looking to make a splash and you're cons, you know, you want to be like we're trying to win. Well, maybe this is this is what you do at this point and it makes some sense all of a sudden, even if again it's not exactly what I would do here. So, let me know what you think about this trade in the comments down below. I'm curious. Are you interested in revisiting uh a John Morant trade coming up next? Well, could the Pelons be a facilitator in a Giannis trade with the Milwaukee Bucks? They own kind of Milwaukee's pick. Can you get involved in that? It's more complicated than you think. That's coming up here next in today's episode of Locked On Pelicans.

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[00:13:07]Okay, let's get into this one here because this is actually kind of interesting with the Milwaukee Bucks shopping Giannis. It's out there. Sham said it. We kind of know that if he does not agree to an extension, they are going to look at moving him. They should. It's the smart thing to do.

[00:13:22]So, could the Pelgens get in on a deal?

[00:13:24]Could they be a facilitator? Could they land a piece this way? You know, they they kind of controlled the Bucks. Well, it's not kind of. they do control the Bucks uh pick next year. But I'm going to tell you, it's not the easiest thing to get in on a deal. There's a way and I'm going to tell you, but it's going to mean the Pelicans do not have a draft pick next year as of now. If that's the case, the Bucks or sorry, the Bucks, the Pelicans did get the Bucks draft pick in 2027 next year in the Drew Holiday trade. But in the Dejonte Murray trade, they traded a 2027 first round pick to Atlanta. They put some weird stipulations on it. Instead of just trading a specific pick, they traded the worst of their two picks. So, they had two picks and they go to Atlanta. We have these two picks. We don't know where they're going to be. You get the worst of the two, we get the better.

[00:14:14]They kind of It's kind of like a swap, but not quite a swap. So, that's how they did it. So, in theory, the Pelicans will have a draft pick. they could trade this pick a little bit later with everything. You know, you have something called the stipen rule where you can't trade it right now. You'd have to wait till this draft happens and after that once the league new year flips, you can do it. So, they can't do it before that.

[00:14:38]Um, so you need to have like the deal in place and then it probably kind of gets official like July 4th, 5th, 6th, something along those lines. So, in theory, the Pelicans could trade the pick. They could trade it back to Milwaukee, but they would be left without a pick at all. And maybe for the right trade, you do that. The Pelicans seem very much now in win now mode. You know, could you trade Milwaukee their pick back and get somebody like um Miles Turner? That's really interesting. We'll talk more about Miles Turner a bunch actually probably coming up in the near future. This might actually be tomorrow's show where I'll give you kind of the mock off seasonason I've done for New Orleans and show you what I would do if I kind of had like free rain and to make what I would call realistic trades when it comes to everything. Um, that's something that I would be very much looking at, I think, here. So, that's an option for New Orleans, but again, they won't have a first round pick if that's the case next year.

[00:15:43]That truthfully worries me a little bit when it comes to this team, right? That worries me a little bit. I do think the potential for them to kind of not be good next year remains very high. That's not an ideal situation for them to be in. You know, this team wasn't particularly great even when they were fully healthy against top level competition. I don't know if I want them not having a pick next year. um even if you're kind of just having it as insurance. That I think is something that's important to me here. You know, something to also keep in mind with this is if you're making a win now trade, you you also do need draft picks to put additional young talent next to Queen in Fears if they are going to be your future. Their timeline is different than Zion Williamson's, then Trey Murphy's, then Herb Jones, and whoever else. You need to keep that in mind. Otherwise, you're getting into Dell Demp's territory of just trading away your first round picks every year for young vets and then it just doesn't all come together and that wasn't good either. We don't need to look back on the Dell Demp's tenure and be like, "We misjudged it." No, we didn't. They need to have patience and maybe that is a message coming from above them, but these GMs say they have autonomy. Like I can tell you Dods fully didn't. Um during a lot of his time here, uh they had like internal caps basically. It was like you can't spend over x amount and it wasn't like the luxury tax line was like you can't go above this number and things like that. That doesn't appear to be the case anymore which is good. So Delubs was hampered a little bit. I'll give him that one. But look, they should have just not been good and you need someone that stands up to ownership or if there are people above him saying that and kind of stand his ground and do what they need to do. Though that's easier said than done. But this team probably does need to have some patience too with Fears and Queen and add additional draft picks. young guys around them, those complimentary pieces that you're going to need.

[00:17:39]So, you need draft picks to do that sort of thing. And so, that's important here.

[00:17:43]One thing to keep in mind, too, with this trade where the worst of the two goes to Atlanta, they top four protected, whatever pick goes to Atlanta. So, essentially what this means is if both picks fall in the top four, the Pelicans keep them. With the new flattened lottery odds, you can still be trying to win. you can miss the playoffs and still have a pretty good chance at getting a top four pick.

[00:18:07]So, all of a sudden, the Pelicans are looking at two top four picks potentially in next year's draft. Not as you'd rather have it in this draft, that would be incredible, but two top four picks in next year's draft. That's at least something, right? So, if the Bucks do trade Giannis, you know, they just take whatever they can get. They're not good next year. They don't have their picks. they're still gonna they're going to be bad regardless, right? Um even if they're trying to win without him. So, they're going to be bad. Pelicans easily could tank if they wanted to to a degree or just stay in the middle and you have a chance at top four picks next year.

[00:18:44]Your odds wouldn't be as good as say like this year, but they wouldn't be bad either. That's an intriguing option for New Orleans, I think. You know, I wouldn't give that up just for anybody.

[00:18:56]May maybe a Miles Turner if you're intent on kind of going for it and in the mockoff season I've done that's kind of like the move that I made here. Um the big one I think that's really worth looking at and I think you have a way to kind of you know that could transform the team. Miles Turner was not good in Milwaukee this past year but I mean that whole thing was just an absolute disaster. So we'll see. Uh but that would be an intriguing idea. You want a rim protecting three-point shooting big man that rebounds. Yeah, Miles Turner's probably the guy. And you would imagine Milwaukee at that point once they trade Giannis is just going to tear everything down and get what they can get for players, which frankly would be the smart thing to do. Last year, Miles Turner, by the way, 12 points per game, 5.3 rebounds, 1.6 blocks. He also shot 38% from three on over five attempts per game. He's he's probably the guy you want to try and go and get if you can. I would imagine he will have a pretty robust market. Um, one of his maybe his worst, this was his worst offensive rebounding year ever, but again, Milwaukee was a bit of a disaster.

[00:20:01]Coming up next, let me know what you think about that idea. Do would you trade the pick if it meant like a Miles Turner type of person or not? Let me know in the comments down below. Coming up next, let's look at James Burggo. Is there any chance that he could have the job? Let's give you the latest on the coaching search. is coming up here next in today's episode of Locked on Pelicans.

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[00:22:46]Join over 12,000 Pelicans fans on YouTube as well. And become an everydayer. It means you listen Monday through Friday to the Lockdown Pelicans podcast. And if you're an everyday, let me know in the comments down below. for your second listen. It's Locked on Saints with Ross Jackson taking a deep dive in everything black and gold and what their off season is looking like.

[00:23:05]Make Locked on Saints your second listen today. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. So, I want to wrap up with um a little bit of coaching talk. Things are just we're waiting. We're kind of in that period right now. So, there's not a ton of new updates. One of the things I've been asked a lot about though are do does James Burggo have any sort of chance here? And the answer to that feels like no at this point. You know, if they wanted to hire him, they would have. They gave him a long time to kind of audition for the job. And while I do think he did about as good of a job as you really could, the results weren't great. That probably has more to do truthfully with roster issues than anything. he kind of revamped their offense, you know, kind of getting away from Zion and making it more egalitarian. I think that can be a very smart thing, though. Zion was healthy this year. He has not been in the past. That's something that's worth keeping in mind. You know, one year is shouldn't be what we we base everything off of. We've been here before essentially. Fool me once, that sort of thing.

[00:24:11]You know, he got them trying until the very end, you know, but there were still some issues, right? like they they regularly came out flat in first quarters. You know, as a coach, you've got to try and find a way to not let that happen. That would be ideal. Now, there's only so much he can do, I think.

[00:24:29]You know, that's that's worth keeping in mind. But at the end of the day, these guys are professionals and they should act like it, but you've got to find a way. And it's kind of as simple as that.

[00:24:40]Like, you've got to find a way to do it.

[00:24:42]And I think he struggled a little bit with that. You know, it seems like they definitely want to go in a different direction. I do think it's also worth keeping in mind he's kind of a Griff guy, but also not quite a Griff guy, though Griffin brought him in. You know, it was more to kind of keep Willie Green there and all that. Uh or to help Willie Green and kind of put some pressure on Willie Green as well. So, it's not like he was Willie Green's guy, I guess, is what it what I'm trying to say. So, that could potentially keep him safe a little bit when it comes to it. I think that's worth keeping in mind, too, as you look at all of this. But, It's likely that he is not really in the running for this job anymore. Again, I think he did a good job and it would have been really great to see what he could have done with the whole off season. That that's something that you just can't talk enough about kind of installing what you want, telling players what you want to see them work on, you know, getting some more time with them and not trying to change things in the middle of the season when you just don't have practice time to be able to really do that. So again, I think he did a good job, but it just does not seem like it's in the cards. I think they could just be viewing him as a fallback option, which if you're him, you might not want to take, but he wants to be a head coach again. He's interviewed for other head coaching jobs, too, so maybe he would. That's kind of how I view it. They don't get the other people they want. Say Rondo, you know, is like, I I'm not ready to be a full-time head coach. Steve Hzel goes to say um to to Portland last minute.

[00:26:07]you know, Mosley is not a, you know, a higher that you're going to be able to sell to the fan base. Same thing with Darvin Ham. Maybe it's just let's elevate James Bgo. I think that'll still have kind of a bit of a hard sell to it as well. But I do think Bergo did a very admirable job this year. The players also kind of universally praised him at their end of season media availabilities, their exit interviews. I think that's worth keeping in mind as well, too, that that's also some of the things that they were saying. Let me know what you think about Berea. Who do you want to be the head coach? Do you think this is going to end soon? Let me know in the comments down below. That's going to do it for this episode of Lockdown Pelicans. As always, I'm your host Jake Madison at Nola Jake on Twitter. This is the Lockdown Pelicans podcast. Part of Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. See y'all tomorrow.

[00:26:53]Offseason talk. Mock offseason. That's what we're doing.