New Orleans Pelicans
As mentioned before, the Pelicans and Grizzlies already made a deal this offseason involving the likes of Jonas Valanciunas, Eric Bledsoe and Steven Adams, so they are familiar with each other, but why would New Orleans want to acquire Patrick Beverley from Memphis when they could have just traded Bledsoe to Los Angeles for him to begin with?
This is a very valid question to be answered and maybe the Pelicans does not have interest in Patrick Beverley, but they do potentially have a roster spot, should they waive Wenyen Gabriel before his contract becomes fully-guaranteed, and they could use an experienced defender in their backcourt.
Devonte’ Graham and Tomas Satoransky are not really known to be great defenders at the point guard position and the Pelicans struggled defensively last year, which is why adding a veteran guard like Beverley would make sense.
The Pelicans also has the capability to acquire him rather easily too given that they have a $17M trade exception that they created from trading Steven Adams to the Grizzlies a month ago.
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A lot of what the Pelicans may do with this potential open roster spot really depends on what happens with Josh Hart though over the next few weeks.
The young wing is still unsigned and is a restricted free agent, so the Pelicans could just easily look to bring him back on a small deal and waive Wenyen Gabriel instead of using their large trade exception on a “one-year rental” of Patrick Beverley.
READ MORE: Predictions for NBA Trade Rumors: Simmons, Lillard, Hield, Ingles, Siakam
If the Pelicans does not bring back Hart though and they let him go in free agency to sign elsewhere, then they could look to target another backcourt talent. The Pelicans want to win right now and adding Beverley to their roster definitely improves them in an area on the court in which they have struggled mightily.
