With a 3-16 record and being 13 games back of .500 roughly a quarter of the way into the 2021-22 NBA season, the New Orleans Pelicans hopes of making the playoffs are quickly vanishing. Since the 2015-16 season, the Pelicans have made the playoffs just once and this organization has seen a lot of turnovers on and off-the-court since then!
Willie Green is in his first season as the head coach of the Pelicans and is now the third coach in as many seasons for this franchise. Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram are still the two young All-Star leaders of this team, but Williamson has yet to play this year due to offseason foot surgery and Ingram has missed 7 games this year due to injuries.
Jonas Valanciunas, Devonte’ Graham and Josh Hart are all high-level talents on this roster besides the Pelicans’ two stars, but overall, this team is one of the worst overall teams in the league.
New Orleans ranks 27th in offensive rating, 23rd in defensive rating, 27th in bench points per game and they are only shooting 42.2% from the floor as a team this year, which is the fourth worst shooting percentage in the league.
LATEST NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: This Kings-Pelicans Trade Lands Marvin Bagley III In NOLA
With their next six games of the season being against playoff teams from a season ago, there is not much hope within this organization right now that they will be able to turn things around.
We have seen teams rally during the second-half of the year before to make the playoffs and with both the 9-seed and 10-seed in each conference having a chance to earn a playoff spot, we should not count out the Pelicans just yet, but they are running out of time to begin winning games.
As a result, New Orleans could wind up being big “sellers” at the trade deadline this year and one player they could look to move is veteran guard Tomas Satoransky. Coming to the Pelicans from Chicago as part of the Lonzo Ball sign-and-trade this past offseason, Satoransky was expected to be a key backcourt piece for the Pelicans, but he has held a very minimal role for them.
Averaging just 16.4 minute per game and starting in just three games this year due to others being injured, Satoransky is not an impactful player for this team and is being highly underutilized. It is hard to believe they will not look to trade the veteran guard as he is in the final year of his contract, which is why a team like the Dallas Mavericks could be interested in him.
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The Mavericks are currently the 5-seed in the Western Conference, but they really have not looked impressive this year.
Other than Luka Doncic being their main facilitator/scoring and Kristaps Porzingis contributing at times, this Mavericks team needs more ball-handlers and playmakers, which is why they could be interested in Satoransky.
With the Bulls last season, Tomas Satoransky averaged 7.7 points, 4.7 assist and shot 51.4% from the floor, 35.6% from three-point range.
At 30-years-old, he is an experienced point guard in this league that can play with or without the ball in his hands and make an impact on both ends of the floor.
LATEST NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: This Kings-Pelicans Trade Lands Marvin Bagley III In NOLA
Do the Dallas Mavericks have the ability to trade for the Pelicans veteran? Let’s take a look at what this trade could wind up looking like.
